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Evolution  of  the  Dominion  of 
Canada 

Its  Government  and  Its  Politics 


Government  Handbooks  is  a  new  series  of  college  textbooks 
in  government  prepared  under  the  joint  editorship  of 
David  Prescott  Barrows,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Political  Sci- 
ence (on  leave)  and  formerly  Dean  of  the  Faculties  in  the 
University  of  California,  now  Colonel  in  the  United  States 
Army,  and  Thomas  Harrison  Reed,  A.B.,  LL.B.,  Associate 
Professor  of  Government  in  the  University  of  California 
and  City  Manager  of  San  Jose,  California. 

The  series  will  provide  a  handbook  for  each  of  the  European 
countries,  and  one  on  the  Government  of  American  De- 
pendencies, treating  of  the  political  and  administrative 
organization.  Each  volume  will  have  such  maps  and 
illustrations  as  are  needed,  and  will  contain  an  annotated 
bibliography. 

The  authors  of  the  different  volumes  are  men  who  combine 
a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  subject  and  a  personal  ac- 
quaintance with  the  country  and  system  described. 

The  volumes  now  published  are:  Evolution  of  the  Dominion 
OF  Canada,  by  Edward  Porritt,  author  of  "  The  English- 
man at  Home,"  "  The  Unreformed  House  of  Commons," 
and  "  Sixty  Years  of  Protection  in  Canada  ";  Govern- 
ment AND  Politics  of  Switzerland,  by  Robert  C.  Brooks, 
Professor  of  Political  Science,  Swarthmore  College;  and 
Government  and  Politics  of  the  German  Empire,  by 
Fritz- Konrad  Kriiger,  Ph.D.,  formerly  of  the  Department 
of  Political  Science,  University  of  California.  Some  of 
the  other  volumes  in  preparation  are:  Government  of 
American  Dependencies,  by  Dr.  David  Prescott  Bar- 
rows; Government  of  France,  by  Edward  M.  Sait, 
Ph.D.,  Assistant  Professor  of  Political  Science,  Columbia 
University;  and  volumes  on  the  governments  of  Great 
Britain,  Japan,  Spain,  Argentina,  Chile,  and  Brazil. 

The  publishers  cordially  invite  correspondence  with  regard  to 
the  Series. 


Edited  by  David  P.  Barrows  and  Thomas  H.  Reed 

(Bobernmrnt  !^antilioofe0 

Evolution  of  the  Dominion 
of  Canada 

Its  Government  and  Its  Politics 

BY 

EDWARD  PORRITT 

AUTHOR   OF    "the    ENGLISHMAN    AT   HOME,"    "tHE 

UNREFORMED    HOUSE    OF    COMMONS,"    AND    "  SIXTY 

YEARS   OF   PROTECTION   IN   CANADA" 


II 


YONKERS-ON-HUDSON  :  :  :   NEW  YORK 

WORLD  BOOK  COMPANY 
1920 


:a^^     V 


^^ 


M. 


Our  teaching  of  politics  in  the  universities,  excellent  upon 
the  side  of  theory,  needs  to  be  supplemented  by  practical 
teaching.  ...  A  political  theory,  detached  from  the  actual 
conditions  of  life,  is  as  worthless  as  the  political  economy 
of  a  few  decades  ago  which  first  assumed  a  competitive 
market  which  never  existed,  and  then  formulated  the  laws 
which  would  prestunably  operate  in  it  if  it  did  exist. 
Dream  politics  have  been  taught  too  long.  What  Ameri- 
can students  need  today  is  a  training  which  will  fit  them 
to  deal  with  actual  conditions,  and  to  be  real  vital  factors 
in  making  them  better. 


Dr.  Robert  M.  McEIroy,  President  Wilson's 
successor  as  head  of  the  Department  of 
History  and  Politics  at  Princeton  University, 
at  conference  of  educators,  rooms  of  Bar 
Association,  New  York,    October    14,    1917. 


acUM 


COPYRIGHT,    19 1 8,    BY  WORLD   BOOK  COMPANY 

COPYRIGHT   IN   GREAT   BRITAIN   •   ALL  RIGHTS   RESERVED 

gh:  PEDC-a 


EDITORS'  INTRODUCTION 

DESPITE  the  increased  study  given  in 
America  to  modern  government,  small  at- 
tention has  been  paid  either  by  college  teachers 
or  the  general  public  to  the  political  institu- 
tions of  the  two  nations  which  are  the  imme- 
diate neighbors  of  the  United  States,  and 
whose  territory  defines  our  own  national 
boundaries  on  both  the  north  and  the  south. 
And  yet  our  relations  with  these  two  countries 
occupy  a  very  large  place  in  our  political 
history  and  continue  to  be  among  the  most 
vital  concerns  of  our  nation.  In  no  other 
part  of  the  world  is  it  so  important  to  us  to 
have  a  thorough  accord  as  on  the  continent  of 
North  America,  and  no  real  understanding  is 
possible  in  the  absence  of  a  full  knowledge  of 
the  character  and  spirit  of  the  public  life  of 
neighboring  states. 
In  both  cases  these  neighboring  countries  have  been 
deeply  influenced  by  our  political  constitu- 
tion and  from  us  both  have  adopted  the  federal 
form  of  government,  and  many  of  the  common 
American  terms  and  conceptions  of  republican 
society.  As  far  as  the  Mexican  republic  is 
concerned  the  problem  of  our  relations  is 
admittedly   a  serious  and  difficult  one,  made 

[vii] 

845822 


EDITORS'   INTRODUCTION 

more  so  by  the  lack  of  knowledge  arising  from 
profound  differences  in  race,  speech,  and 
inheritance.  But  in  the  case  of  Canada  a 
common  derivation,  a  common  speech,  a  com- 
mon literature,  and  institutions  derived  from 
common  sources,  somewhat  differently  devel- 
oped, have  already  gone  far  to  produce  in  both 
countries  a  common  American  type  of  society 
and  social  philosophy.  While  Canada  has 
learned  much  from  the  experience  of  the 
United  States,  she  is  prepared  also  to  teach 
much.  In  the  last  fifty  years  Americans 
have  exhibited  slight  originality  in  politics 
but  have  gained  a  spirit  to  profit  from  the 
experience  of  others.  While  in  our  state 
development,  which  has  added  commonwealth 
after  commonwealth  to  the  American  Union, 
our  constitution  drafters  and  lawmakers 
have  adhered  conservatively  to  a  fixed  type 
of  political  organization,  Canada  can  show 
a  successful  experience  with  single-chamber 
legislatures  and  with  centralized  adminis- 
trations —  types  of  progressive  organizations 
which  American  state  political  leaders  have 
lacked  the  courage  and  vision  to  attempt. 
The  administration  of  justice,  of  cities,  and  of 
local  institutions  in  Canada  shows  a  clear 
superiority  over  their  counterparts  in  the 
United  States,  which  should  arouse  grave 
inquiry  in  the  minds  of  a  people  no  less  for- 
tunately situated  nor  less  socially  endowed 
[viii] 


EDITORS'   INTRODUCTION 

than  the  Canadians.  Assuredly  a  large  part 
of  American  failure  in  government  is  attribu- 
table to  a  vicious  form  of  organization  which 
Canada,  influenced  by  sounder  conceptions, 
has  avoided. 
But  undoubtedly  the  most  fruitful  contrast  be- 
tween  government  in  Canada  and  government 
in  the  United  States  is  the  different  organi- 
zation of  the  executive  power.  To  the  presi- 
dential type  of  executive,  elected  for  a  fixed 
term  and  above  any  political  control  during 
the  period  of  office,  which  prevails  in  the  United 
States  of  Mexico,  Canada  opposes  the  parlia- 
mentary or  responsible  executive  derived  from 
England  and  adopted  generally  by  repre- 
sentative governments  in  Europe.  It  is  by 
no  means  certain  which  of  these  two  strongly 
contrasted  institutions  will  eventually  be  pre- 
ferred by  a  successful  republicanism  in  the 
Western  Hemisphere.  All  the  countries  of 
America  except  those  which  are  members  of 
the  British  Empire  have  followed  the  example 
of  the  United  States  and  created  presidential 
executives;  but  with  the  exception  of  the  United 
States  none  has  wholly  escaped  dictatorship 
or  avoided  civil  wars  occasioned  by  the  abuse 
of  presidential  power.  The  late  President 
Madero,  at  the  time  when  he  was  a  candidate 
for  the  office,  informed  one  of  the  editors  of  this 
series  that  he  was  convinced  that  constitutional 
order  in  Mexico  would  never  be  possible  unless 


EDITORS'   INTRODUCTION 

the  Mexican  presidency  was  changed  to  the 
form  of  the  presidency  of  France.  A  consti- 
tutional amendment  to  effect  this  change  was 
introduced  into  the  Mexican  congress  in  igii, 
after  Maderos  election. 

Certainly  in  one  respect  parliamentary  government 
is  most  impressive,  and  that  is  in  its  capacity 
promptly  to  determine  the  popular  will  upon 
a  vital  issue.  An  American  presidential 
election  seldom  effects  this.  The  issue  may 
have  already  passed  into  the  background  before 
the  vote  can  be  taken,  and  the  large  number  of 
controversies  pressed  upon  the  American  elec- 
torate at  the  end  of  each  four  years  confuse 
the  main  issue  and  render  the  decision  so 
doubtful  that  it  is  rarely  found  binding  upon 
the  administration  elected  to  power. 

Contrast  such  delayed  and  dubious  decision  with  the 
dissolution  of  the  Canadian  parliament  over 
the  reciprocity  issue  in  iQii,  or  the  election 
of  1917  upon  the  issue  of  conscription  for  the 
war.  In  each  case  the  controversy  was  isolated 
and  unconfused,  a  decision  was  given  by  the 
nation  unmistakably  and  within  the  space  of 
a  few  weeks^  time,  and  government  was  imme- 
diately reorganized  in  terms  of  that  decision 
and  with  the  designated  victors  in  this  contest 
to  carry  out  the  people^ s  will.  Such  a  parlia- 
mentary election  is  a  great  referendum  beside 
which  an  American  election  is  a  halting  and 
uncertain  decision. 


EDITORS'  INTRODUCTION 

//  would  be  impertinent  to  enlarge  upon  the  qualities 
of  the  eminent  writer  who  has  prepared  this 
volume  on  the  Evolution  of  the  Dominion 
of  Canada:  Its  Government  and  Its  Politics. 
Mr.  Porritt's  long  researches  and  authoritative 
writings  in  the  field  of  representative  govern- 
ment, his  broad  and  decided  views  upon  the 
economic  policies  of  governments,  his  long 
identification  with  liberal  movements  in  the 
United  States  as  well  as  in  Great  Britain  and 
Canada,  make  his  willingness  to  perform  this 
task  a  cause  of  congratulation.  No  one  is 
better  qualified  than  he  to  speak  for  the 
American  people  both  in  Canada  and  in  the 
United  States. 

The  Editors 


[xi] 


PREFACE 

MORE  than  once  I  have  been  asked  why  I, 
an  Englishman,  long  resident  in  the  state 
of  Connecticut,  take  so  much  pleasure  in  writing 
on  Canada.  The  answer  to  this  question  is 
easy  to  make.  From  1896  to  1914,  my  work,  as 
a  special  correspondent  of  London,  Leeds,  and 
Glasgow  newspapers,  took  me  as  much  afield  in 
the  Dominion  of  Canada  as  in  the  United  States, 
as  frequently  to  Ottawa  as  to  Washington. 
Canada  has  also  a  peculiar  interest  for  me  arising 
out  of  long  devotion  to  a  particular  line  of  study. 
From  days  of  boyhood,  when  I  was  serving  my 
apprenticeship  to  newspaper  work  in  England, 
the  study  of  the  history  and  working  of  British 
political  institutions,  local,  central,  and  imperial, 
has  been  one  of  the  joys  of  my  Hfe. 

In  Canada,  British  political  institutions  have 
been  in  working  since  1758  — working  under  New 
World  conditions.  As  transplanted  in  the  eigh- 
teenth century  they  were  as  nearly  as  possible 
replicas  of  English  political  institutions  —  as  much 
so  as  the  institutions,  parliamentary,  administra- 
tive, and  judicial,  that  were  established  by  Eng- 
land in  Ireland  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

In  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century 
there  were  far-reaching  reforms  in  Great  Britain. 
The  system  of  parliamentary  representation  was 

[xiii] 


PREFACE 

modernized  and  made  much  more  democratic 
than  it  had  been  for  three  centuries  before  1832; 
and  within  the  decade  in  which  this  long  overdue 
reform  was  effected,  the  attitude  of  Great  Britain 
towards  her  oversea  possessions  also  underwent 
a  great  and  beneficent  change. 

Responsible  government  was  conceded  to  the 
colonies  in  which  representative  government  had 
already  been  established;  and  with  the  concession 
of  responsible  government  the  political  institu- 
tions of  Canada  went  through  much  the  same 
process  as  the  political  institutions  of  the  United 
Kingdom,  local  and  central,  had  done  in  the 
eighty-two  years  from  1832  to  the  beginning  of 
the  war. 

In  no  province  in  Canada  is  the  political  civi- 
lization much  more  than  a  century  and  a  half  old. 
But  I  have  found  the  study  of  it  as  fascinating 
as  that  of  the  much  older  political  civilizations  of 
England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland.  It  has  presented 
much  the  same  four  aspects:  (i)  how  the  older 
political  institutions  came  to  be;  (2)  how  they 
worked;  (3)  the  forces  that  impelled  their  reform 
and  liberalization;  (4)  how  the  newer  and  more 
democratic  poHtical  institutions  have  worked. 

More  ground  has  been  covered  in  the  following 
pages  than  is  usual  in  books  concerned  with 
government  and  politics.  More  ground  had  to  be 
covered  if  the  government  and  contemporary 
politics  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada  were  to  be 
visualized    and    comprehended.     For   conditions 

[xiv] 


PREFACE 

in  Canada  are  peculiar,  and  peculiar  in  at  least 
four  respects. 

These  are  (i)  the  conditions  under  which  the 
political  development  of  Canada  has  proceeded 
since  1763;  (2)  the  relations  of  Canada  with 
Great  Britain  and  the  empire;  (3)  the  enormous 
influence  which  Canada,  and  in  particular  the 
united  provinces  of  Upper  and  Lower  Canada  — 
1 840-1 867  —  have  had  on  the  colonial  policy  of 
Great  Britain  since  1840;  and  (4)  the  position  of 
Canada  arising  from  the  former  political  connec- 
tion of  three  of  the  old  British  North  American 
provinces  with  the  thirteen  colonies  that  broke 
away  in  1 776-1 783  from  Great  Britain  and 
established  themselves  as  the  United  States; 
the  proximity  of  Canada  to  the  United  States; 
and  the  influence  that  the  United  States  has  had 
on  the  political  and  economic  development  of 
Canada,  and  on  its  relations,  political  and  eco- 
nomic, with  Great  Britain  and  the  vast  empire 
of  which  Great  Britain  is  the  center. 

It  is  to  make  Canada  understandable,  and 
also  to  make  clear  its  relations  with  Great  Britain, 
and  also  the  potency  of  American  influence  upon 
it,  that  so  much  attention  has  been  devoted  in 
these  pages  to  the  evolution  of  the  Dominion, 
and  to  the  National  Policy,  which,  largely  owing 
to  American  example  and  influence,  had  its 
origin  as  far  back  as  1858. 

Dominion  politics  from  1867  to  the  war  cannot 
be  understood  without  an  adequate  comprehen- 

[xv] 


PREFACE 

sion  of  the  conditions,  political,  racial,  religious, 
economic,  and  social,  within  Canada,  and  also  of 
some  important  conditions  of  external  origin 
that  brought  about  Confederation,  and  the 
gradual  development  of  the  Dominion  to  its 
present-day  status  of  nation.  There  is  also 
needed  some  comprehension  of  the  history  of  the 
National  Policy,  and  its  various  developments, 
and  its  influence  on  Canadian  politics  and  on 
the  day-by-day  life  of  the  people  of  the  Dominion, 
as  well  as  on  the  relations  of  the  Dominion  with 
Great  Britain  and  the  other  dominions,  and  with 
the  United  States. 

To  some  degree  this  preface  is  characterized 
by  a  personal  note.  I  will  end  it  in  the  same 
key  by  adding  that  my  interest  'in  the  history 
and  working  of  British  political  institutions  has 
been  stimulated  by  the  privileges  I  have  enjoyed 
since  1894  at  the  Connecticut  State  Library, 
where  the  collection  of  material  for  the  study 
of  Canadian  history  and  politics  is  remarkably 
large  and  complete.  In  this  respect  the  State 
Library  here  is  excelled,  so  far  as  I  can  recall, 
by  only  three  libraries  in  England,  and  all  these 
three  libraries  are  in  London. 

Edward  Porritt 

Hartford,  Connecticut,  U.  S.  A. 
May  24,  19 18. 


[xvi] 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  The  British  Oversea  Dominions i 

II.  The  Dominion  of  Canada  —  Area,  Physical 

Features,  and  Distribution  of  Population      13 

III.  The    Geographic    and    Economic    Divisions 

OF  THE  Dominion 21 

IV.  The  Evolution  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada, 

1783-1840      59 

V.  From    the    Rebellion    to    Confederation, 

1837-1867 89 

VI.  The  Influences  and  Forces  that  Brought 

about  Confederation 180 

VII.  The  Quebec  Convention  and  the   British 

North  America  Act     197 

VIII.  The  Dominion  a  Federal  Union      211 

IX.  The  Distribution  of  Powers  between  the 

Dominion  and  Provincial  Governments   .     223 
X.  The  Governor-General  and  Cabinet  .   .   ,     247 

XL  Parliament:  The  Senate 267 

XII.  The  House  of  Commons     305 

XIII.  The  Cabinet:     The   King's  Privy  Council 

FOR  Canada     351 

XIV.  Parliament  at  Work:    The  House  of  Com- 

mons    378 

XV.  The  National  Policy  of  the  Dominion   .   .  430 
XVI.  The   National    Policy   and   the   Develop- 
ment OF  Canada 469 

XVII.  Provincial  Legislatures  and  Governments  483 

Sources  and  Authorities 507 

Index 513 

[xvii] 


FULL-PAGE  MAPS 

PAGE 

The  Dominion  of  Canada Frontispiece 

Economic  Map  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada 39 

The  Two  Canadas  and  the  Maritime  Provinces  ....       69 

The  Dominion  of  Canada  in  1867 275 

The  Prairie  Provinces 473 

The  Great  Lakes  and  the  Drainage  East  to  Montreal    .     475 


[xix] 


Evolution  of  the  Dominion  of 
Canada:    Its  Govemhicnt 

and   Its    Politics      ::•'>......  , 

CHAPTER  I 

THE     BRITISH     OVERSEA     DOMINIONS 

THE  oversea  possessions  of  Great  Britain,   Extent  of 
other  than  the  Indian  Empire  —  pos-   ^  ® 
sessions  which  in  the  year  before  the   Empire 
great  war  of  1914-1918  were  of  the  aggregate 
area  of  nearly  nine   and   a  half  million   square 
miles  —  have  been  grouped  at  the  colonial  office 
in  London,   since   1907,   in  two  divisions.     The 
grouping  is  by  political  status.     It  is  determined 
by  the  relations  of  parliament  at  Westminster 
and  the  colonial  office  to  each  of  the  forty-eight 
oversea  possessions. 

In  one  group  are  the  dominions,  which  call  for   Political 
little  or  no   attention  from   parliament,  and,  as    ff^°"P^ 
regards  their  internal  concerns,  throw  no  burdens   oversea 
on  the  colonial  office.     In  the  other  group  are 
the    crown    colonies    and    protectorates.     These 
receive    some    attention     from     parliament,     in 
particular  when  the  annual  vote  for  the  colonial 
office  is  before  the  house  of  commons  and  the 
house  of  lords,  —  a  vote  on  which  any  aspect  of 


slons 


crottn 
colonies 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

crown   colony  government  can   be   discussed,  — 

and  the  internal  and  external  concerns  of  these 

colonies  are  constantly  under  the  supervision  of 

the  colonial  office. 

Areaand        Th«    dependencies    under    the    supervision    of 

tetiouof     ^^^    coHonial    office    cover    on    the    roughest    of 

estimates   an  area  of  two   million  square   miles. 

They  have  a  population  of  over  forty  millions, 

among  whom  —  including  immigrants  as  well  as 

children   of  the   soil  —  are  to   be   found,   in   the 

words  of  the  Book  of  Daniel,  "all  people,  nations, 

and  languages  that  dwell  in  all  the  earth."  ^ 

Domin-  The    dominions    are     (i)    the     Dominion     of 

*°°^  Canada;    (2)  the    Commonwealth  of  Australia; 

(3)    the   Dominion   of    New  Zealand;     (4)    the 

Union  of  South  Africa;   and  (5)  the  Dominion  of 

Newfoundland.     In    all    these    British    oversea 

possessions  there  are  parliaments  or  legislatures 

elected  on  democratic  franchises,  and  responsible 

governments. 

Respon-         The    term     "responsible    government"    is    a 

Mvern-      comparatively  new  one  in  British  colonial  history. 

ment         It  was   not   of  British    political   terminology  — 

certainly  not  accepted  in  England  as  applicable 

to  colonial  governments  —  until  Great  Britain  in 

the  period  between  1837  and  1850  at  last  began 

to  learn  the  lesson  of  the  American  revolution, 

and  to  concede  large  powers  of  self-government 

to  the  British  North  American  provinces;    next 

^  Cf.  C.  P.  Lucas,  "The  Crown  Colonies  and  Protectorates/* 
Manchester  Guardian^  March  20,  1917. 

[2] 


BRITISH  OVERSEA  DOMINIONS 

to  Australia,  New  Zealand,  and  Cape  Colony; 
and  finally  in  1893  to  Natal. 

The  term  "responsible  government,"   as  now   Meaning 
used  in  British  political  science,  means  that  in   °^ 

1        •    •  1  •  1-  J  respon- 

each    dommion    there    is    a    parhament    and    an   siWe 
executive,   called   the   ministry,   which,   like   the   ^o^®'^^- 

ment 

ministry  in  Downing  Street  for  the  last  two 
centuries,  is  dependent  for  its  tenure  on  the 
continuous  support  of  a  majority  in  the  house  of 
commons.  In  the  oversea  dominions,  as  in  the 
United  Kingdom,  the  executive  is  often  described 
as  the  cabinet.  The  correct  term  is  the  ministry; 
for  it  frequently  happens,  especially  at  West- 
minster, that  there  are  men  in  the  ministry  who 
are  not  of  the  inner  committee  of  the  privy 
council  which  is  termed  the  cabinet. 

The  aggregate  area  of  the  five  dominions  in   Area  and 
IQ14  was  in  round  figures  seven  and  a  half  million   f°^^'  ^ 

M  <T-i  1  •  1      •  lationof 

square  miles.  The  aggregate  white  population  the  do- 
was  nearly  fifteen  millions,  as  compared  with  ^^o"^ 
forty-six  millions  in  the  United  Kingdom.  West- 
ern Australia,  a  state  in  the  Commonwealth  of 
Australia,  and  Natal,  a  province  in  the  Union  of 
South  Africa,  were  the  last  colonies,  now  of  the 
dominions,  to  receive  responsible  government. 

Western  Australia  was  a  crown  colony  until   Political 
1890.     Natal  was  in  the  same  class  until  1893.    freedom 
With  these  exceptions,  electors  in  all  the  domin-   domin- 
ions, for  at  least  half  a  century  before  the  world    *°^* 
upheaval  of  191 4,  had   been   as  free  to  govern 
themselves  in  all  internal  or  domestic  concerns, 

[3] 


tive 
tariffs 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

and  in  more  recent  years  also  in  regard  to  some 
external  matters,  such  as  tariff  preferences  and 
trade  conventions,  as  the  parliamentary  electors 
of  the  United  Kingdom. 
Proteo-  There   were    no    preferences    for    the    oversea 

dominions  in  the  tariffs  of  the  United  Kingdom 
after  1846.  From  1859,  when  the  united  prov- 
inces of  Quebec  and  Ontario  established  a 
protective  tariff,  each  colony  or  province  that  is 
now  of  the  dominions  was  free  to  frame  its  own 
tariff  without  regard  to  the  industrial  or  com- 
mercial interests  of  the  United  Kingdom. 
Protec-  With  the  exception  of  Newfoundland,  all  the 

T^st      dominions  in  the  period  between  1859  and  1914 
imports      had  availed  themselves  of  this  liberty  to  impose 
u^d^^     protective   duties   on   imports   from   the  United 
Kingdom    Kingdom   and   from  other  parts  of  the   British 
Empire.     It  was  not  until  1897,  when  the  Domin- 
ion of  Canada  made  the  innovation,  that  there 
were  any  preferences  in  the  tariffs  of  the  domin- 
ions for  imports   from   England,   Scotland,   and 
Ireland. 
Domin-  Except  fot  Contributions  towards  the  British 

tai^  navy  from  Australia,  New  Zealand,  South  Africa, 
expend!-  and  Newfoundland,  none  of  which  was  made 
*™^®^  earlier  than  1887,  and  some  contribution  for 
several  years  from  the  Union  of  South  Africa 
towards  the  expense  of  maintaining  British 
troops  in  that  dominion,  no  dominion  makes,  or 
ever  has  made,  any  contribution  to  the  imperial 
exchequer. 

C4] 


BRITISH  OVERSEA  DOMINIONS 


In  the  year  before  the  war,  the  British  national 
debt  was  seven  hundred  and  sixteen  millions 
sterling.  A  very  large  part  of  the  national  debt 
that  accumulated  in  the  eighteenth  century  was 
incurred  in  defending  and  extending  British 
colonial  possessions  in  North  America.  Some  of 
the  debt  of  the  nineteenth  and  twentieth  cen- 
turies was  also  incurred  in  wars  which  arose 
directly  out  of  Great  Britain's  oversea  possessions. 
But  no  dominion  has  ever  paid  a  contribution  to 
the  interest  or  sinking  fund  of  the  national  debt. 
These  have  always  been  a  charge  on  the  tax- 
payers of  the  United  Kingdom;  and  the  main- 
tenance of  the  crown,  of  the  colonial  office  and  its 
staff,  and  of  the  foreign  office  and  the  diplomatic 
and  consular  services,  have  also  been  charges  to 
which  no  contributions  have  ever  been  made  by 
the  dominions. 

Parliament  at  Westminster  never  interferes  in 
the  domestic  concerns  of  the  dominions  except 
at  the  instance  of  a  dominion  parliament,  when, 
for  example,  an  amendment  to  the  constitution 
of  a  dominion  is  desired.  The  imperial  parlia- 
ment has  far  less  to  do  with  the  internal  concerns 
of  the  dominions  —  with  those  of  Canada,  for 
instance  —  than  congress  at  Washington  has  to  do 
with  the  internal  concerns  of  the  several  states. 

The  presence  of  the  governor-general  at  Ottawa, 
and  the  lieutenant-governors  at  the  provincial 
capitals  —  Charlottetown,  Fredericton,  Halifax, 
Quebec,  Toronto,  Winnipeg,  Regina,  Edmonton, 


No  con- 
tributions 
to  the 
British 
national 
debt 


No  Inter- 
ference 
from 
parlia- 
ment at 
West- 
minster 


Gov- 
ernor- 
general 


EVOLUTION    OF   THE    DOMINION    OF    CANADA 

and  Victoria  —  all  representatives  of  the  king, 
are  about  the  only  manifestations  in  Canada  of 
the  close  connection  between  the  Dominion  and 
Great  Britain. 
Appoint-  The  governor-general  is  sent  out  from  Lon- 
mentof      ^^^       j^jg  salarv  and  establishment  charges   are 

governor-  •  i  i         i       r>v        •    •  t  • 

general  paid  by  the  Dominion.  Lieutenant-governors  are 
appointed  at  Ottawa.  But  while  the  governor- 
general  is  appointed  by  the  king,  on  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  British  cabinet,  always  with 
the  approval  of  the  executive  of  the  Dominion, 
no  other  civil  servants  are  appointed  by  the 
British  government;  and  there  is  no  interference 
from  the  colonial  office  with  the  internal  affairs 
of  any  of  the  dominions. 
Crown  Crown  colonies  stand  in  quite  another  relation 

colonies  ^^  parliament  and  the  colonial  office.  Many  of 
them  have  elected,  or  partly  elected  and  partly 
nominated,  legislatures,  with  fiscal  and  police 
powers  and  comprehensive  law-making  powers. 
They  have  not  responsible  government  as  it 
exists  in  the  dominions.  Their  executives  cannot 
be  dislodged  by  an  adverse  vote  in  the  legislature, 
ciassifi-  At  the  colonial  office  crown  colonies  are 
cation  of     constitutionally     grouped      into      five      classes: 

crown  . 

colonies  (i)  Colonies  possessing  an  elected  house  of 
assembly  and  a  nominated  council,  e.g.  the 
Bahamas,  the  Barbados,  and  Bermuda;  (2)  col- 
onies possessing  a  partly  elected  legislative 
council,  the  constitution  of  which,  as  in  British 
Guiana  and  the  island  of  Cyprus,  does  not  provide 
[6] 


BRITISH  OVERSEA  DOMINIONS 

for  an  official  majority;  (3)  colonies  possessing  a 
partly  elected  legislative  council,  the  constitution 
of  which  provides  for  an  official  majority,  e.g. 
Fiji,  Leeward  Islands,  Jamaica,  and  Malta; 
(4)  colonies  and  protectorates  in  which  there  are 
legislative  councils  appointed  by  the  crown,  e.g. 
British  Honduras,  Ceylon,  East  Africa  Pro- 
tectorate, Falkland  Islands,  St.  Lucia,  St.  Vin- 
cent, Seychelles,  Sierra  Leone,  Southern  Nigeria, 
Straits  Settlement,  and  Trinidad;  and  (5) 
colonies  and  protectorates  in  which  there  are  no 
legislative  councils  or  representative  institutions, 
e.g.  Ashanti,  Basutoland,  Bechuanaland,  Northern 
Nigeria,  the  northern  territories  of  the  Gold 
Coast,  St.  Helena,  Uganda,  Weihaiwei,  and  the 
islands  under  the  protectorate  of  the  Western 
Pacific  High  Commission. 

Great  Britain,  at  an  early  stage  in  the  new  Attitude 
colonial  era  —  the  era  that  may  be  dated  from  ^^^^ 
1840  —  determined  that  the  development  of  towards 
these  crown  colonies,  most  of  them  tropical 
possessions  in  which  there  can  never  be  a  pre- 
ponderant white  population,  was  a  necessity  to  the 
British  Empire.  It  was  then  realized  that  such  a 
development  could  come  only  through  a  partner- 
ship between  the  white  and  the  colored  races. 

Different  methods  have  been  adopted  in  work- 
ing towards  the  development  of  these  colonies.^ 

^  "Beyond  anything,  such  success  as  has  attended  our 
people  in  dealing  with  colored  races  has  been  the  result  of 
practical  good  sense,  which  has  not  attempted  to  drill  alien 

[7] 


crown 
colocdes 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION    OF  CANADA 

General     These  methods  represent  a  variety  of  means  to  a 

poUcy        single  end.     They  represent  stages  of  constitu- 

crown        tional  and  social  development  adapted  to  differing 

colonies     stages  of  civilization.     The  general  policy  is  to 

adapt  to  every  administrative  unit  of  the  empire 

the   principles   that   have   long   been   applied   in 

working  out  the  political,   social,   and  economic 

welfare  of  the  British  nation,  and  to  establish  in 

each  of  the  crown  colonies  the  order,  stability, 

freedom,  and  justice  that  are  characteristics  of 

British  political  civilization.^ 

Relations        Grants  in   aid   are  sometimes  made  to  crown 

°'.      ,      colonies  by  the  British  parliament.     Higher  civil 

colonial  11  r 

office  with  servants,  as  well  as  governors,  are  sent  out  from 
*^*"°^        London;     and   the    supervision    by   the   colonial 

peoples  on  one  uniform  pattern  or  to  stamp  out  diversity, 
but  has  utilized  the  men  and  the  things  native  to  the  soil  and 
familiar  to  the  peoples  —  the  sultan,  the  headman,  the  village 
community;  respecting  customs  and  creeds,  letting  the  peoples 
live  their  own  lives  in  their  own  way,  provided  that  they  abide 
by  the  general  rules  which  distinguish  humanity  from  bar- 
barism; gradually  leavening  them  with  the  British  spirit  of 
freedom  rather  than  inculcating  a  sense  of  British  domination. 
By  eschewing  uniformity,  by  adapting  methods  to  diverse 
peoples  of  diverse  lands  in  preference  to  recasting  the  peoples 
in  a  strange  mold,  by  ensuring  life  and  property  and  even- 
handed  justice,  by  letting  conditions  grow  instead  of  forcing 
them,  the  English  control  many  millions  in  singular  content- 
ment and  goodwill."  —  C.  P.  Lucas,  "The  Crown  Colonies 
and  Protectorates,"  Manchester  Guardian,  March  30,  1917. 
Cf.  Josiah  Royce,  "Race  Questions,  Provincialism,  and 
other  American  Problems,"  22-25. 

1  Cf.  Sir  Charles  Bruce,  "The  Broad   Stone  of  Empire: 
Problems  of  Crown  Colony  Administration,"  I,  34-35. 

[8] 


BRITISH  OVERSEA  DOMINIONS 


office  of  these  oversea  possessions  —  most  of 
them  colonies  in  which  the  white  population  is 
largely  outnumbered  by  natives  —  is  usually 
close  and  continuous. 

The  establishment  of  representative  and  re- 
sponsible government  in  the  dominions  —  the 
creation  of  these  autonomous  states  of  the  British 
Empire  —  was  a  gradual  process.  It  went  on 
most  quickly  and  most  obviously  from  1840, 
when  the  provinces  of  Quebec  and  Ontario  were 
united,  until  1893.  It  did  not  stop  in  1893  when 
responsible  government  was  granted  to  Natal. 
Other  concessions,  all  tending  to  autonomy  and 
sovereignty,  were  made  after  the  last  of  the 
dominions  became  self-governing. 

The  process,  going  on  almost  continuously 
since  1840,  has  been  one  in  which  the  United 
States,  quite  unconsciously  to  most  Americans, 
has  had  a  large  and  easily  traceable  influence. 
This  influence  has  been  due  to  the  political 
development  of  the  United  States  since  1783, 
and  also  to  the  fact  that  the  old  British  North 
American  provinces  of  Nova  Scotia,  Prince 
Edward  Island,  New  Brunswick,  Quebec,  Ontario, 
and  British  Columbia,  in  their  formative  period, 
were  neighbors  of  the  United  States,  which 
greatly  influenced  their  social,  political,  and 
economic  life,  as  since  1867  the  United  States  has 
influenced  the  life  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada. 

There  have  been  four  eras  in  British  colonial 
policy   and   history  since   1 776-1 783.     The  first 

[9] 


Develop- 
ment of 
respon- 
sible 
govern- 
ment 


Inflaence 
of  United 
States  on 
British 
colonial 
policy 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Four  eras 

in  British 

colonial 

policy 

since  the 

American 

revolution 


Conces- 
sions 
from 
1837  to 
1907 


Demands 
for 

colonial 
autonomy 


extended  from  1783  to  the  Paplneau  and  Macken- 
zie rebellions  in  Lower  and  Upper  Canada  in 
1837.  The  second  lasted  from  1837  to  the 
confederation  of  the  British  North  American 
provinces,  which  was  accomplished  between  1865 
and  1873;  and  the  third  was  from  1873  to  the 
great  war,  from  which  began  a  fourth  era  in  the 
colonial  history  of  the  British  Empire. 

The  process  of  establishing  representative  and 
responsible  government  in  the  dominions  —  so 
far  at  any  rate  as  it  depended  on  parliament  at 
Westminster  and  the  colonial  office  —  did  not 
begin  until  the  union  of  the  provinces  of  Quebec 
and  Ontario,  an  experiment  which  was  a  direct 
result  of  the  Papineau  and  Mackenzie  rebellions. 
It  was  only  as  recently  as  1907  that  Great  Britain, 
in  continuation  of  the  process,  finally  and  fully 
conceded  to  the  dominions  the  much  valued 
right  to  appoint  their  own  plenipotentiaries  to 
make  their  commercial  treaties  with  foreign 
powers. 

In  this  gradual  development  of  self-govern- 
ment, statesmen  of  what  are  now  the  dominions 
had  the  largest  part.  With  them,  and  in  par- 
ticular with  the  statesmen  of  British  North 
America,  originated  the  successive  demands 
between  1820  and  1907  for  more  autonomy  and 
for  less  control  by  parliament  at  Westminster 
and  by  the  colonial  office. 

Papineau  and  Mackenzie,  in  the  years  from 
1820  to  the  union  of  the  provinces,  risked  their 

[10] 


BRITISH  OVERSEA  DOMINIONS 

lives  in  pressing  on  the  British  government  the 
first  of  these  demands.     Gait,  the  most  famous   Men  who 
of  the  ministers  of  finance  of  the  United  Provinces,   |^^® 
pressed  to  success  in  1859  the  demand  for  the   demands 
right  of  the  provinces  to  make  their  own  tariffs 
without    regard    to    the    industrial    interests    of 
Great  Britain. 

John  A.  Macdonald,  Alexander  Gait,  Charles 
Tupper,  George  Brown,  George  Etienne  Carrier, 
Edward  Blake,  Wilfrid  Laurier,  Richard  Cart- 
wright,  and  WiUiam  S.  Fielding  pressed  other 
demands  from  the  negotiations  which  preceded 
confederation  in  1867  until  the  right  of  the 
dominions  to  make  their  own  immigration  laws 
and  their  own  commercial  treaties  was  conceded 
in  1904  and  1907. 

Quite  sixty  years  had  elapsed,  and  there  had   British 
been  the  rebellions  in  Canada,  before  statesmen    ®*^*®*" 

'  men  at 

at  Westminster  really  began  to  learn  the  lesson   last  leam 
of  the  American  revolution.     Then  they  gradually   ^^g/" 
conceded  the  demands  that  were  made  from  the   i776-i783 
colonies  that  are  now  of  the  dominions.     They 
themselves     suggested    little.     They    originated 
few  of  the  developments  that  have  contributed 
to  the  autonomy  of  the  dominions.     But  after 
1837  they  became  more   receptive  to  demands 
from  colonial  statesmen;    and  except  for  Galt*s 
demand  of  1859,  for  the  right  of  the  provinces  to 
make  their  own  tariffs,  and  some  delay  in  fully 
conceding  the  demand  of  the  dominions  to  make 
their   own    commercial    treaties,    there    was    no 


the  links 
of  empire 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

grudging  in  conceding  these  demands  after  the 
lesson  of  the  American  revolution  had  once  been 
learned. 
New  After  it  was  realized  that  as  concessions  towards 

^enW    autonomy   were   granted   the   links   binding   the 
ens  dominions    to    Great    Britain    became    stronger 

instead  of  weaker,  there  were  no  compromises 
with  the  demands.  As  the  result  of  the  colonial 
statesmanship  that  pressed  these  demands,  and 
the  statesmanship  at  Westminster  that  conceded 
them,  responsible  government  for  all  the  colonies 
that  are  now  of  the  dominions  had  been  established 
for  at  least  two  decades  before  1914;  and  its 
establishment,  and  the  success  which  has  attended 
it  in  Canada,  Australia,  New  Zealand,  South 
Africa,  and  Newfoundland,  is  the  greatest  political 
achievement  of  people  under  British  rule  in  the 
140  years  between  the  American  revolution  and 
the  war  between  Great  Britain  and  her  allies  and 
the  Teutonic  powers. 


[12] 


CHAPTER  II 

THE     DOMINION     OF     CANADA  —  AREA, 
PHYSICAL     FEATURES,     AND     DIS- 
TRIBUTION    OF     POPULATION 


I 


N  area  and  population   Canada  is  the  largest    Areaof 
of  the  dominions.      Politically  and  economi-   ^®  .  . 

.         Dominion 

cally  it  is,  with  the  possible  exception  of  India,  ofCanada 
the  most  interesting  of  the  British  oversea  pos- 
sessions. It  embraces  the  northern  half  of  the 
North  American  continent,  with  its  adjacent 
islands  in  the  Arctic  Ocean,  but  exclusive  of 
Alaska  in  the  extreme  northwest,  the  island  of 
Newfoundland,  and  the  small  islands  of  St.  Pierre 
and  Miquelon,  which  are  colonies  of  the  French 
republic.  The  total  area  of  the  Dominion  is 
3,729,665  square  miles.  Of  this,  309,000  square 
miles  are  comprised  in  the  arctic  islands. 

Newfoundland,  the  oldest  of  the  British  oversea   Canada 
possessions  in  the  New  World,  has  an   area  of  ^^_ 
42,000  square  miles;    and  the  aggregate  area  of  foundiand 
these  two  dominions  —  Canada  and  Newfound- 
land—  is  3,771,665  square  miles.    This  is  a  little 
more  than  the  area  of  the  United  States;  larger 
by  640,333  square  miles  than  the  combined  area  of 
the  commonwealth  of  Australia  and  the  dominion 
of  New  Zealand,  and  not  much  smaller  than  the 
aggregate  area  of  all  the  countries  of  Europe. 

[13] 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Coast-  The  Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts  of  the  United 

^'*  °'      States   are   much    straighter   than   those   of  the 

Dominion   Dominion.     The    Canadian    coastHne    on    both 

oceans  is  much  indented  with  gulfs  and  bays  — 

particularly  the  Atlantic  coast.     These  gulfs  and 

bays  are  good  feeding  and  breeding  grounds  for 

fish.     They  also  afford  many  harbors  and  havens 

for    fishermen,    thus    giving    Canada    the   most 

extensive  sea-fisheries  in  the  world. 

Hudson         Hudson  Bay  —  a  sea  8cx)  miles  from  north  to 

®*^  south,  and  600  miles  in  width  —  is  wholly  within 

the  Dominion.     For  two  centuries  Hudson  Bay 

had  great  influence  on  exploration  and  trade  in 

Canada.     With    the    enormous    development    of 

grain  growing  in  what  are  now  the  provinces  of 

Manitoba,  Saskatchewan,  and  Alberta,  between 

1898  and  1916,  and  with  the  construction  by  the 

Dominion   government   in   the   years   from    1910 

to  1 916  of  a  harbor,  with  wharfs  and  elevators 

for  the  grain  trade,  at  Port  Nelson,  and  a  railway 

410  miles  long  from  Le  Pas,  Manitoba,  to  this 

new  port,  Hudson  Bay  is  again  of  importance  in 

the  trade   and   transport  economy  of  the  large 

area  of  Canada  that  lies  between  the  Great  Lakes 

and  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

Great  Canada  has  a  common  use  with  the  United 

'^'^11       States  of  all  the  Great  Lakes  —  Ontario,  Erie, 

andthe  ,       .  ,  '  ' 

connect-     Huron,    Michigan,    and    Superior;     and    also    a 

ing  canals   common  use  of  the  St.  Lawrence  from  its  source 

in  Lake  Ontario  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean.     Since 

1854,  when  by  treaty  the  United  States  conceded 

C14] 


rence 
River 


AREA,   PHYSICAL  FEATURES,   POPULATION 

the  privilege  of  free  navigation  of  Lake  Michigan 
to  Canada,  and  Great  Britain  conceded  to  the 
United  States  the  navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
both  countries  have  had  joint  use  of  the  series  of 
magnificent  canals  —  Canadian  and  American  — 
that  make  navigation  possible  from  Lake  Superior 
to  tidewater  below  Montreal. 

The  St.  Lawrence  occupies  an  even  larger  st.  Law- 
place  than  Hudson  Bay  in  the  history  of  Canada, 
particularly  as  regards  exploration  and  trade, 
and  incidentally  as  regards  diplomatic  relations 
with  the  United  States.  In  the  sixteenth  century 
it  opened  a  route  for  exploration,  colonization, 
and  trade.  It  led  Cartier,  the  explorer,  in  1535 
to  the  sites  now  occupied  by  the  cities  of  Quebec 
and  Montreal. 

In  the  eighteenth  century,  after  the  creation   its  m- 
of  the  province  of  Ontario  by  the  Quebec  act  of  ^^^^^ 
1 79 1,  and  in  the  nineteenth  century,  it  was  the   deveiop- 
St.    Lawrence,    with    its    importance    in    inland   "®f*°' 

111-  •  1         Ontario 

navigation,  that  brought  into  existence  the 
Ontario  cities  of  Prescott,  Kingston,  Hamilton, 
and  Toronto;  and  with  the  opening  of  the 
Canadian  Pacific  Railway  from  Montreal  to 
Vancouver,  in  1886,  there  came  into  existence, 
as  the  most  western  cities  on  the  lakes  and  St. 
Lawrence  route.  Port  Arthur  and  Fort  William, 
also  in  Ontario,  the  largest  grain  ports  in  the 
British  Empire. 

It  is  within  the  power  of  the  Dominion  parlia- 
ment to  organize  territories  into  provinces.    Three 

C15] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Creation     provinces  have  been  so  created  since  Confedera- 
of  new       ^Jqj^      They  were  carved  out  of  the  vast  territory 

prov-  .  "^  .  -^ 

inces         lying    between    Lake    Superior    and    the    Rocky 
Mountains,  over  which  the  Hudson   Bay  Com- 
pany ruled   from  the  reign  of  Charles  II   until 
1869,  when  its  rights  were  acquired  by  purchase 
by   the   Dominion   government.     Manitoba   was 
created   a  province  in   1870,  Saskatchewan  and 
Alberta  in  1905. 
Pouticai         Since  1905  the  Dominion  has  been  politically 
div^ions    diyijgd  into  nine  provinces  and  two  territories. 
Dominion  The   territories    are   Yukon    and    the   northwest 
territories.     Yukon  is  bounded  on  the  west  by 
Alaska,  on  the  south  by  British  Columbia,  on 
the  north  by  the  Arctic  Ocean,  and  on  the  east 
by   the   northwest   territories,   which   extend   to 
the  western  shore  of  Hudson  Bay.     Both  terri- 
tories   lie    north    of  the    sixtieth    parallel  —  the 
northern    boundary    of    all    provinces    west    of 
Ontario.     There  were  in  1916  fewer  than  30,000 
people  in  these  territories. 
Yukon  Only  in  the  Yukon  is  there  any  industry  — 

Territory    ^j^^^  of  gold  mining,  of  which  Dawson,  the  political 
capital,  is  the  center.     The  Yukon  is  the  only 
territory  that  elects  a  representative  to  the  house 
of  commons  at  Ottawa. 
Order  in        The  provinces  in  the  order  in  which  they  came 
"^^^        into  Confederation  are:    Quebec,  Ontario,  Nova 

provinces  7  n  «■       •      1 

entered      Scotia,   and    New   Brunswick,    1867;    Manitoba, 

Confed-      jg  British   Columbia,   1871;    Prince  Edward 

eration  '  7/7 

Island,    1873;    and   Saskatchewan   and  Alberta, 

[16] 


AREA,   PHYSICAL  FEATURES,   POPULATION 

1905.  Quebec  is  the  capital  of  the  old  French 
province;  Toronto  of  Ontario;  Halifax  of  Nova 
Scotia;  Fredericton  of  New  Brunswick;  Winnipeg 
of  Manitoba;  Victoria,  on  Vancouver  Island,  of 
British  Columbia  Charlottetown  of  Prince 
Edward  Island;  Regina  of  Saskatchewan;  and 
Edmonton  of  Alberta. 

These    are    the    political    divisions    which    are    Repre- 
under   provincial   or   territorial   government   for   ^^****°'* 
domestic  concerns;    each,  with  the  exception  of  pariia- 
the    northwest    territories,    with    its    quota    of  q^^^* 
senators  and  commoners  in  the  Dominion  parlia- 
ment —  a   quota   that   as   regards   the   house   of 
commons  is  determined  by  act  of  parliament  after 
each  decennial  census. 

The  area  of  each  of  the  nine  provinces  and  of  Popu- 
the  Yukon  and  northwest  territories,  the  popula-   ^^^'^ 
tion  of  each  at  the  census  of  191 1,  and  the  number    sentation 
of  senators  and  members  of  the  house  of  com- 
mons allotted  to  each  province  and  to  the  Yukon 
by  the  redistribution  act  of  the  Dominion  parlia- 
ment of  1914  and  as  regards  the  senate  by  the 
amendment  to   the   British    North  America   act 
of  191 5  ^  are  stated  in  the  accompanying  table.* 

As   the   Dominion   embraces    almost   half  the    climate 
North  American  continent,  it  has   a   diversified    Canada 
climate.     On  the  Pacific  coast,  with  the  ocean  on   beyond 
one  side  and  lofty  mountain  ranges  on  the  other,   ^^'^®^* 
the  climate  is  moist  and  temperate.     East  of  the 

^  British  Statutes  5  and  6,  George  V,  c.  45. 
2  Canada  Year  Book,  1914,  41,  43. 

[17] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Province 

Area 
sq.  m. 

Population, 
1911 

Representation 
Sen.        H.C. 

Quebec     

705,834 

407,262 

21,418 

27,985 
251,832 

355,855 
2,184 
251,700 
255,285 
207,076 
242,224 

2,003,232 

2,523,274 

492,338 

351,889 

455,614 

392,480 

93,728 

492,432 

374,663 

8,512 

18,481 

24 
24 
10 
10 

6 
6 

4 
6 
6 

6S 

82 

Ontario      

Nova  Scotia 

16 

New  Brunswick 

Manitoba 

II 
IS 
13 

,1 

12 

British  Columbia 

Prince  Edward  Island . 

Saskatchewan 

Alberta 

Yukon  Territory 

Northwest  Territories . 

I 

Totals 

3,729,665 

7,206,643 

96 

234 

Climate 

from 

Great 

Lakes   to 

Atlantic 

Ocean 


Spring 

and 

summer 

in  the 

maritime 

pirovinces 


Rocky  Mountains,  on  the  high  level  plateaus  of 
Alberta,  Saskatchewan,  Manitoba,  and  the  north- 
west territories,  the  climate  is  characterized  by 
extremes  of  temperature,  but  is  bright,  dry, 
bracing,  and  healthy. 

East  of  Manitoba  the  extremes  of  heat  and 
cold  are  modified  by  the  Great  Lakes.  In  the 
valleys  of  the  Ottawa  and  St.  Lawrence  a  cold 
but  bright  and  exhilarating  winter  is  followed 
by  a  long  and  warm  summer.  The  Maritime 
Provinces,  lying  between  the  same  parallels  of 
latitude  as  France,  and  with  shores  washed  by 
the  Atlantic,  are  equally  favored  in  climate. 

The  opening  of  spring  in  the  Maritime  Prov- 
inces is  usually  a  little  later  than  in  Ontario 
or  in  the  prairie  provinces,  and  a  little  earlier 
than  in  the  lower  St.  Lawrence  valley.  On  the 
other  hand  summer  lingers  longer,  especially  in 
the  Annapolis  valley.  Summer  in  the  Maritime 
Provinces  is  not  as  a  rule  quite  so  warm  as  in 

[18] 


AREA,  PHYSICAL  FEATURES,  POPULATION 

western  Canada.  Great  heat  is  seldom  ex- 
perienced, except  very  occasionally  at  inland 
places  in  New  Brunswick. 

From  Alberta  to  the  Maritime  Provinces  there   snowand 
is  in  the  winter  much  snow.     It  lies  deep  over   ^^l^^^ 
this    area    from    November   or    December    until    tages 
March.     But  the  value  of  this  covering  of  snow 
cannot  be  overestimated.     It  protects  the  roots 
of  trees  and  herbage  during  the  severe  weather, 
and  east  of  the  Great  Lakes  it  also  greatly  facili- 
tates the  lumber  industry. 

The  Great  Lakes  never  freeze  over,   but  ice   ice- 
closes  the  harbors  from  the  middle  of  December   *^^°^ 

ports 

until  the  beginning  of  April.  The  average  date 
of  the  closing  of  navigation  on  the  St.  Lawrence 
at  Montreal  is  December  i6,  and  of  its  opening 
April  21.  Harbors  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  are 
likewise  closed  by  ice  during  the  winter  months. 

On  the  Bay  of  Fundy  and  the  coast  of  Nova   winter 
Scotia,    harbors    are   open    all   the   year   round,    ^^g^^' 
Halifax  and  St.  John,  by  this  freedom  from  ice,    Canada 
obtain  their  importance  as  the  Atlantic  winter 
ports  of  the  Dominion.     In  particular  they  owe  to 
this  great  advantage  over  the  St.  Lawrence  ports 
their   constantly   increasing   importance   on    the 
national   grain   route  —  lake,   canal,   and   rail  — 
which    stretches    from    Port    Arthur    and    Fort 
William  on  Lake  Superior  to  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board. 

The  coal  fields  and  coal  deposits  of  the  Domin- 
ion are  the  most  extensive  and  best  known  of  its 

[19] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Coal         mineral   resources.     The   known    area   underlain 
D^mhj'     ^y  workable  coal  beds  is  nearly  30,000  square 

miles. 
Coal  Notwithstanding  the  vastness  of  these  deposits, 

"dmi  ^^^  total  quantity  of  coal  annually  mined  in 
distri-  Canada  is  less  than  half  of  the  country's  con- 
bution  of  sumption.  The  coal  fields  are  found  principally 
lation  in  the  coast  provinces  —  Nova  Scotia,  New 
Brunswick,  and  British  Columbia  —  and  in 
Alberta.  The  central  provinces,  Ontario  and 
Quebec,  —  in  which  in  191 6  four  sevenths  of  the 
total  population  was  concentrated,  —  are  without 
coal.  They  are  nearer  to  Pennsylvania,  Ohio, 
and  Indiana  than  to  any  of  the  coal-producing 
provinces;  and  consequently  they  find  it  more 
economical  to  draw  their  supplies  of  coal  — 
bituminous  as  well  as  anthracite  —  from  these 
American  coal  fields.  American  coal  in  large 
quantities  is  also  imported  by  the  prairie  prov- 
inces. Anthracite,  and  some  special  bituminous 
coals  from  Pennsylvania,  are  used  as  far  west  of 
Lake  Superior  as  Winnipeg  and  Brandon. 


[20] 


CHAPTER  III 

THE     GEOGRAPHIC     AND 
ECONOMIC     DIVISIONS     OF     THE 
DOMINION 

IT  has  been  customary  since  Confederation  to  Four 
group  the  provinces  geographically  and  eco-   ^^^^ 
nomically.     There  have  been,  since  the  prairie   and 
provinces  were  organized,  four  of  these  geographic   ^J^J^ 
and  economic   divisions.     All   of  them  are  well 
marked,  and  generally  accepted  in  political  and 
economic  understanding. 

I.    The  Maritime  Provinces 

In  one  group,  the  oldest  and  a  group  that  is   Provinces 
tenacious  of  its  British  traditions  and  its  local    ^^^ 
political  history,  are  the  Maritime  Provinces —   sea" 
Nova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick,  and  Prince  Edward 
Island.     These  three  provinces  are  often  collo- 
quially described  in  parliament  and  in  the  press 
as  the  provinces  "down  by  the  sea." 

Before    Confederation    these     provinces     had    Mari- 
many  common  interests,   so  many  in   fact  that 
in  1864  there  was  a  movement  for  a  legislative   i)efore 
union.      This  movement  culminated  in  an  inter-   elation" 
provincial  conference  at  Charlottetown,  which  had 
the  effect  of  greatly  facilitating  Confederation. 

Before  Confederation  the  Maritime  Provinces 

[21] 


time 
provinces 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Old  free-    had   tariffs   exclusively   for   revenue.     They   had 

mottaces    "°^  followed  the  example  of  the  united  provinces 

of  Ontario   and   Quebec   in    adopting   protective 

tariffs  in  1859,  chiefly  because  they  drew  their 

manufactured    goods   from    England,    and    there 

were  no  factories  in  the  Maritime  Provinces  to  be 

aided    by    protection.     For    thirty    years    after 

Confederation  the  people  of  these  provinces  were 

opposed  to  the  protectionist  policy  of  the  Ottawa 

government,  and  also  to  the  large  expenditures 

on  the  canals  of  Quebec  and  Ontario,  from  which 

they  then  derived  no  direct  advantage. 

Common        In   later  years   their   common   interests   have 

SttiT*^     been    shipping    and    fishing,    lumber    and    coal 

provinces    industries,  agriculture,  and  the  general  economic 

interests  of  a  long-settled  and  sparsely  distributed 

maritime  population,  much  less  affected  by  the 

cosmopolitan  immigration  of  the  years  from  1898 

to  1914  than  any  other  division  of  the  Dominion. 

II.    Central  Canada 
Char-  Quebec  and  Ontario  form  the  second  of  the 


down 
by  the 


geographic  and    economic  groups.     These  prov- 


acter- 
istlcs  of        , 

people  of  inces  constitute  what  is  known  as  central 
Quebec  Canada.  In  general  each  is  inhabited  by  people 
Ontario  of  a  different  race,  language,  and  religion  and  of 
differing  philosophies  of  life.  Quebec  is  peopled 
by  French-Canadians,  who  are  Roman  Catholics, 
and  unambitious  and  content  with  the  domestic 
joys  afforded  by  their  homes,  their  occupations, 
their  religion,  and  their  province. 

[22] 


GEOGRAPHIC  AND  ECONOMIC  DIVISIONS 

Ontario  is  inhabited  by  people  of  English  or 
Scotch  origin,  speaking  English,  of  the  Protestant 
religion,  energetic  and  ambitious,  and  nearer  in 
temperament  and  character  to  Americans  of 
New  England  or  of  the  middle  west  than  to 
their  eastern  neighbors  in  Quebec,  or  the  present 
generation  of  people  in  England  or  Scotland. 

There  is  more  or  less  antagonism  between  these   Economic 
two  peoples  —  an  antagonism  which  can  be  traced   j^*®^®^*^ 
back  almost  to  the  American  revolution.     Despite    common 
these  differences  in  race,  language,  religion,  and 
outlook    on    life,    and    despite    the    antagonism 
which  not  infrequently  manifests  itself  at  Ottawa, 
and   at  the  provincial  capitals  of  Toronto  and 
Quebec,    no   other   provinces    in    the    Dominion 
have  achieved   so  much   in  common   politically, 
or  have  so  much  in  common    economically,  as 
Ontario  and  Quebec. 

It  was  these  provinces  that  made  most  of  the   Ontario 
constitutional  history  of  Canada  from  the  Quebec   ^^^^g^. 
act  of  1 79 1  to  Confederation  in  1867.     In  this   and  the 
respect  no  other  provinces  in  any  of  the  dominions   ^TrfJ^ 
have    more    beneficently    affected    the    colonial   colonial 
policy   of  Great    Britain.     The   modern    era   of  ^^^^ 
colonial    policy,    the    fruits   of  which   were   the 
loyal,  unstinting,  and  whole-hearted  support  of 
Great  Britain  in  the  war  with  Germany,  had  its 
beginnings  between  1837  and  1845  in  what  are 
today  the  central  provinces  of  the  Dominion. 

Ottawa,  the  Dominion  capital  since  Confedera-   Ottawa 
tion,  is  situated  just  within  the  eastern  boundary 

C23] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Apro- 

vinclal 

capital 

becomes 

the 

capital  of 

the 

Dominion 


Ottawa: 
its 

remote- 
ness from 
the  coast 
cities 


Newer 
cities  of 
the 
Dominion 


of  Ontario,  with  only  the  stately  and  quick- 
flowing  Ottawa  River  dividing  it  from  Hull,  the 
most  western  city  of  Quebec. 

The  original  plan  was  that  Ottawa  should  be 
the  capital  of  the  united  provinces  of  Ontario 
and  Quebec.  This  was  the  design  when  it  was 
selected  by  Queen  Victoria  in  1859.  But  Con- 
federation of  all  the  British  provinces  on  the 
mainland  of  North  America,  long  desirable  and 
long  inevitable,  was  coming  into  being  as  the 
beautiful  parliament  building  at  Ottawa  was 
rising  on  its  foundations  on  the  bluffs  above  the 
widening  out  of  the  Ottawa  River,  and  within  a 
year  from  the  completion  of  the  parliament 
building  the  senate  and  house  of  commons  of 
the  Dominion  of  Canada  were  in  possession.^ 

From  Halifax  to  Ottawa  the  distance  by  rail 
is  940  miles;  from  Charlottetown  it  is  914  miles; 
and  from  St.  John  it  is  597  miles.  From  Victoria 
to  Ottawa,  by  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway, 
the  distance  is  2867  miles;  from  Vancouver  2783 
miles;  from  Edmonton,  2145  miles;  from  Regina, 
1656  miles;   and  from  Winnipeg,  1299  miles. 

Halifax,  Charlottetown,  and  St.  John,  and 
Quebec,  Montreal,  Kingston,  Toronto,  and  Hamil- 
ton, were  cities  of  commercial  importance  in  the 
days  of  the  old  British  North  American  provinces. 
Only  two  cities  west  of  the  Great  Lakes,  Winnipeg 
and  Victoria,  were  in  existence  at  Confederation. 
Vancouver  was  a  creation  of  the  Canadian 
^  Cf.  J.  D.  Edgar,  "Canada  and  Its  Capital,"  51-52. 

[24] 


GEOGRAPHIC  AND  ECONOMIC  DIVISIONS 

Pacific  Railway  after  1886.  Regina  and  Edmon- 
ton were  only  Hudson  Bay  Company  posts  until 
the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway  —  the  first  of  the 
transcontinental  railways  —  was  pushed  across 
the  prairies  and  over  the  mountains  of  British 
Columbia. 

Ottawa   is   not   conveniently   situated    as   the   Amonu- 
capital  of  the  Dominion.     As  population  increases   ™®^**^* 
it    may    not    remain    as    the    capital.     But    for  British 
fifty  years  Ottawa  has  served  not  only  as  the   ^J^^ 
capital  of  the  Dominion,  but  also  as  the  most 
outstanding  monument  in  the  empire  of  the  new 
colonial   policy   of  Great   Britain,   which    began 
with  the  union  of  Ontario  and  Quebec.     Ottawa 
was   the   creation    of  these   provinces,    and    the 
Dominion    succeeded    to    it    at    Confederation. 
Its   early   history,   its   transformation    from   the 
little   lumber   camp    and    distributing   center   of 
Bytown  into  the  most  important  political  capital 
in   the   overseas   dominions,    belongs  jointly   to 
Ontario  and  Quebec. 

A  share  in  molding  the  newer  colonial  policy    Manu- 
of  Great  Britain  is  not  all  that  the  provinces  of  ^^^^^ 
Quebec   and   Ontario   have   in   common.     There   of 
are  present-day  material  advantages  of  enormous   2j^^° 
value,   peculiar  to  central  Canada,  which  these    Quebec 
two  provinces  possess  in  common. 

Manufacturing  in  the  two  decades  that  pre- 
ceded the  great  war  had  been  developed  in  Nova 
Scotia  and  New  Brunswick.  Nova  Scotia  is  the 
largest  iron  and  steel  producing  province;    and 

L251 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

like  New  Brunswick  it  has  several  cities  in  which 
the  cotton  and  woolen  industries  are  established. 
Some  large  indigenous  industries  are  established 
at  Winnipeg,  Brandon,  Regina,  Calgary,  and 
other  cities  of  the  prairie  provinces.  But  Ontario 
and  Quebec,  Ontario  in  particular,  are  the  manu- 
facturing provinces  of  Canada.  The  manufac- 
tures of  these  provinces  are  shipped  east  and 
west  —  to  the  Maritime  Provinces,  and  to  all 
the  provinces  west  of  the  Great  Lakes. 
A  pre-  The  predominance  of  the  central  provinces  in 

domi-        ^j^g   manufacturing   economy   of  the   Dominion, 
that  is       which  must  necessarily  be  theirs  for  generations 
abiding      ^^  come,  is  easily  explained.     Quebec  and  Ontario 
were  the  British  North  American  provinces  of 
largest  population  from   1840  to  Confederation, 
and  from  Confederation  to  the  war.     All  through 
the  nineteenth   century  Ontario  attracted  more 
immigration  from  England  and  Scotland  than  any 
of  the  other  provinces.     It  first  attracted  immi- 
grants to  its  vacant  lands;    and  as  these  were 
gradually   cleared    and   occupied    and   cities   de- 
veloped, it  attracted  immigrants  to  its  farms  and 
to  its  cities. 
Quebec         Immigration  from  the  United  Kingdom  went 
and  the      ^j^j     ^^  ^j^g  cities  of  the  French  province  —  to 
of  immi-    Quebec,  Three  Rivers,  and  Montreal.     The  rural 
^***°°      economy  of  the  province  —  its  habitants  speak- 
ing only  the  French  language,  and  socially  and 
industrially  sufficient  unto  themselves,  and  also 
the   religious   and   at  times  political  supremacy 

[26] 


GEOGRAPHIC  AND   ECONOMIC  DIVISIONS 

of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  —  repelled  rather 
than  attracted  newcomers  from  England  and 
Scotland.  Those  who  did  not  establish  them- 
selves in  Montreal  or  Quebec  pushed  farther 
west  to  Ontario,  where  social  conditions  were 
more  akin  to  those  they  had  left  behind. 

Until  Manitoba  was  opened  for  settlement  by   When 
the  construction  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway   ^^^ 
across  the  province  in    1884,    and  in  fact  until    Ontario 
after  the  great  immigration   propaganda  of  the 
Dominion  was    begun    in   1898,  when    an    Eng- 
lishman   or  Scotchman  told  his  neighbors  in  the 
old  country  that  he  was  emigrating  to  Canada 
it  usually  meant  that  he  was  going  to  Ontario. 

There  was  some  immigration  into  the  Maritime    a 
Provinces  in   the  nineteenth   century.     Between    ^^^^ 
1 81 2  and  1828,  25,000  Highlanders  from  Scotland    some 

of  the 
physical 


settled  in  Cape  Breton,  Nova  Scotia;   and  Gaelic 


is  still  the  language  of  thousands  of  men  and  char- 
women in  Nova  Scotia.  But  the  main  stream  of  fg^^'o^ 
immigration  until  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  cen-  England 
tury,  both  from  England  and  Scotland,  was  to 
the  St.  Lawrence  ports  of  Quebec  and  Montreal, 
and  thence  into  wide  and  beautiful  Ontario,  a 
province  that  in  some  parts  is  more  like  the 
midland  and  western  counties  of  England  than  any 
other  part  of  Canada. 

The  needs  of  a  large  and  growing  population   Begin- 
gave    the    first    impetus    to    manufacturing    in   ^°_ 
Ontario  and  also  in  Montreal,  which,  as  regards   facturing 
trade  and  commerce,  is  nearly  as  closely  inter-   Ontario 

[27] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Raw 

materials 
from  the 
United 
States 


Influence 
of  the 
protec- 
tionist 
tariffs 
of  the 
United 
States 


Coal  and 
ore  from 
the  United 
States 


woven  in  the  life  of  Ontario  as  it  is  in  that  of  the 
old  French  province.  This  impetus  came  in  the 
days  of  small  undertakings  in  manufacturing, 
in  the  days  when  $10,000  was  a  large  capital  for 
a  manufacturing  enterprise. 

Some  raw  materials  for  manufacturing  were  to 
hand  in  Ontario.  What  was  lacking  could  easily 
be  procured  from  the  United  States,  on  which 
Canadian  manufacturers,  in  the  Maritime  Prov- 
inces, as  well  as  in  Ontario  and  Quebec,  have, 
from  the  first,  drawn  largely  for  raw  materials, 
and  also  for  partly  finished  materials  to  be 
carried  further  in  the  process  of  manufacturing. 

The  United  States  has  influenced  manufac- 
turing in  central  Canada,  and  through  central 
Canada  in  the  Maritime  Provinces,  in  three 
distinct  ways.  In  the  forties  and  fifties  of  the 
last  century,  American  manufacturing  develop- 
ment, and  particularly  the  development  of  New 
England,  served  as  an  example  to  Canadians. 
The  adoption  by  the  United  States  in  1842  of  a 
frankly  protectionist  policy  impelled  the  united 
provinces  of  Ontario  and  Quebec  to  the  adoption 
of  a  similar  fiscal  policy  in  1 858-1 859;  and  since 
1879  successive  increases  in  the  protectionist 
tariffs  at  Washington  have  been  followed  by 
increases  in  the  tariffs  at  Ottawa. 

Finally  it  was  possible  for  the  manufacturers 
of  Ontario  and  Quebec  to  draw  on  the  United 
States  for  coal  and  ore,  for  cotton  and  other  raw 
materials,   and   for  partly  finished   materials   at 

C28] 


GEOGRAPHIC  AND   ECONOMIC  DIVISIONS 

less  cost  in  transport  than  from  any  other  source 

of  supply. 

The  transport  system  of  these  two  provinces   Transport 

—  their  railways  and  their  lake  and  canal  naviga-   ^y^*®™^ 

tion  systems  —  are  so  similar  to  these  systems  in    Ontario 

the  states  that  border  on  the  lakes,  the  St.  Law-   ^**^ 

Quebec 
rence,  and  the  boundary  line,   and  they  are  so 

interwoven     through     the     system     of    bonding 

traffic  crossing   and   recrossing  the  border,  that 

only   the    customs    houses    recall    the    fact   that 

Ontario   and   Quebec   are   provinces   of  Canada, 

while  Maine,  Vermont,  New  York,  Pennsylvania, 

Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Michigan  are  states 

of  the  American  republic. 

There   will    be    more    development    of  manu-   con- 

facturing  in  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick.    f/^°°^ 

This    is    inevitable    in    provinces    endowed    by   favor  the 

nature    with    much    water     power,    abundantly    ^«°**'^ 

.  provinces 

suppHed  with  lumber  and  coal,  and  to  which  ore 
is  contiguous,  as  it  is  at  Belle  Island,  Newfound- 
land, for  the  manufacture  of  iron  and  steel  on  a 
large  scale.  The  war  brought  two  modern  steel 
shipbuilding  plants  into  existence  in  Nova  Scotia. 
There  will  be  further  development  of  manu- 
facturing in  the  prairie  provinces.  But  the 
absence  of  many  of  the  raw  materials  of  manu- 
facture, and  the  long  distances  that  materials 
must  be  carried,  will  always  seriously  handicap 
manufacturing  in  the  part  of  Canada  that  lies 
beyond  the  Great  Lakes. 

The  hold  that  central  Canada  has  secured  on 

[29] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

the  manufacturing  economy  of  the  Dominion  is, 
therefore,  likely  to  be  as  permanent  as  the  hold 
that  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire,  and  the  counties 
of  the  black  country,  secured  in  the  manufactur- 
ing economy  of  England  in  the  earlier  years  of 
the  industrial  era. 
Ontario  The  protective  policy  of  Canada  originated  in 

long  a       Ontario.     Before   Confederation   it  was  Ontario 

protec- 
tionist      that   maintained   the   protective   system   of  the 
province     United    Provinces.       Since    Confederation,     and 
especially  since  1897,  protection  has  been  sup- 
ported by  the  mining  and  manufacturing  com- 
munities of  Nova   Scotia   and  New   Brunswick. 
But    its    stronghold    today,    as    for   sixty   years 
before   the   war,   is   in   Ontario;     and   this   fact 
explains    the    sharp    political    division    between 
central  Canada  and  Canada  beyond  the  Great 
Lakes. 
Trade  In  comparison  with  Ontario  and  Quebec,  the 

ofthe^^     prairie    provinces    have    few    manufacturing    in- 
centrai       dustries.     There    is    no    great    staple    industry 
provinces   gxcept   flour   milling;     and   the   people   of  these 
Canada      provinces,  who  are  mostly  grain  growers,  must, 
beyond      f^^  ^^^  manufactures  that  they  need,   pay  the 
Great        higher  prices  which  the  thirty-five  and  forty-two 
^*^®^        and  a  half  per  cent  duties  of  the  Dominion  tariff 
enable  the  manufacturers  of  Ontario  and  Quebec 
to  exact. 
National         Predominance  in  manufacturing,  and  the  lion's 
^^        share  of  the  benefits  of  the  protective  tariff,  are 
not  the  only  material   advantages  due  to  geo- 

[30] 


GEOGRAPHIC  AND  ECONOMIC  DIVISIONS 

graphical,  economic,  and  political  conditions  that 
Ontario  and  Quebec  enjoy.  British  Columbia, 
and  all  the  provinces  east  of  the  Great  Lakes 
with  the  exception  of  Prince  Edward  Island,  are 
largely  dependent  on  the  grain-growing  provinces 
for  their  prosperity,  and  in  particular  for  their 
industrial  development.  With  the  extension  of 
grain  growing  in  the  prairie  provinces  there  is  a 
larger  call  for  the  lumber,  coal,  fish,  and  fruit  of 
British  Columbia;  for  the  services  of  lake  steamers 
that  are  on  the  Canadian  register;  for  the  services 
of  the  three  railway  companies  that  handle  grain 
en  route  from  the  lower  lake  ports  to  tidewater; 
for  the  loanable  capital  that  is  concentrated  in 
Toronto,  Montreal,  and  Halifax;  and  also  for 
the  output  of  the  factories  of  Ontario,  Quebec, 
New  Brunswick,  and  Nova  Scotia. 

An  abounding  harvest  in  the  prairie  provinces   The 
—  a  harvest  in  which  the  crop  greatly  exceeds   ®^®^*  °' 
that  of  the  preceding  year  —  beneficently  aflPects   harvest 
the  payroll  of  every  factory  from  Fort  William   *°  *^® 
to  Sydney  and  Halifax,  and  also  the  turnover  of  growing 
nearly  every  wholesaler  and  retailer  in  these  four   ^°^~ 

.  .  inces 

provmces  east  of  the  Great  Lakes.     But  in  addi-   on 
tion  to  enjoying  by  far  the  larger  share  of  the   Payrolls 
trade  in  factory-made  goods  of  the  prairie  prov-   the  Great 
inces,  both   of  the   central   provinces  —  Ontario   ^"^^^ 
and    Quebec  —  derive    much    profit    from    the 
transport  business  of  Manitoba,  Saskatchewan, 
and    Alberta  —  from    the    carriage   westward    of 
machinery  and  other  manufactured  goods,  and 

[31] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

the  transport  eastward  to  tidewater  on  the  St. 
Lawrence  and  to  the  ports  of  the  Maritime  Prov- 
inces of  grain  and  flour  from  the  west. 
The  Three  provinces  west  of  the  Great  Lakes,  and 

bt^ta^s    ^^°  ^^  ^^^  ^^^  provinces  east  of  the  Lakes,  all 
of  need  the  transport  services  of  Quebec  and  Ontario. 

Ontario      Q^cLin  bulks  largest  in  the  transport  business  of 
Quebec      the  central  provinces;    and  it  is  for  this  reason 
that  Ontario  and  Quebec,  for  thirty  years  before 
the  war,  were  more  interested  than  any  of  the 
other  provinces  east  of  the  Lakes  in  the  continued 
efforts  to  divert  as  much  as  possible  of  the  western 
grain  from  Buff"alo  to  Montreal,  Quebec,  Halifax, 
St.  John,  and  Portland. 
Place  of         All  the  wheat  of  the  grain-growing   provinces 
Buffalo       yggj  jj^  Canadian  flour  mills  east  of  the  Great 

ontae 

grain  Lakes,  and  all  the  wheat  for  export  across  the 
route  Atlantic,  passes  through  some  one  of  the  thirty 
elevators  at  Port  Arthur  and  Fort  William. 
So  far  in  the  history  of  the  western  grain  trade, 
since  its  beginning  in  1884,  in  each  navigation 
season  more  than  half  the  wheat  has  been  carried 
to  the  seaboard  from  these  Ontario  ports  on 
Lake  Superior  by  way  of  Buff'alo.^  The  payment 
for  its  handling  and  transport,  after  it  had  left 
the  Canadian  elevators  at  the  head  of  the  Great 
Lakes,  accrued  to  owners  of  American  lake 
steamers,  American  elevators,  and  American 
railways. 

1  Cf.  Annual  Report  of  the  Council  of  the  Quebec  Board 
of  Trade,  1917,  p.  63. 

C32] 


navi- 
gation 


GEOGRAPHIC  AND  ECONOMIC  DIVISIONS 

The  rest  of  the  wheat  for  export  is  shipped    Grain 
from  Montreal,  Quebec,  Portland,  St.  John,  and   ^^^^^^ 
Halifax  —  most  of  it  from  Montreal.     Wheat  for   Atlantic 
Canadian  shipment  is  carried  direct  from  Port   qP^^"** 
Arthur    and    Fort  William    over  the    lake    and    Dominion 
canal  route,  or  it  is  carried  to  Canadian  transfer 
ports  on    the    lower   lakes  —  Huron    or    Erie  — 
and  thence  by  Canadian  railways  or  canals  to 
Montreal. 

There  is  in  normal  times  no  reciprocity  between    No 
the   Dominion   arid   the   United    States   in   lake   l^^^^S' 

city  in 

navigation.^  Canadian  vessels  are  not  permitted  lake 
by  the  United  States  navigation  laws  to  carry 
cargoes  from  one  American  port  to  another;  and 
vessels  on  the  United  States  register  are  not  per- 
mitted by  the  navigation  code  of  the  Dominion 
to  carry  cargoes  from  one  Canadian  port  to 
another.  Except  for  occasional  cargoes  from 
Ogdensburg,  a  port  on  the  St.  Lawrence  in  the 

^  In  the  lake  navigation  season  of  19 1 7,  for  the  first  time 
in  the  history  of  Canada,  there  was  reciprocity  in  lake  naviga- 
tion. Canadians  had  desired  this  reciprocity  since  the  old 
navigation  code  of  Great  Britain  —  the  code  that  had  its 
beginnings  in  the  seventeenth  century  —  was  remodeled  and 
made  much  less  exclusive  in  1847.  Washington,  however, 
declined  all  overtures  for  reciprocity  in  lake  or  coastwise 
navigation  from  1847  until  April,  1917,  when  the  United  States 
joined  France  and  Great  Britain  and  the  other  allies  in  the 
war  against  the  Teutonic  Powers.  Reciprocity  in  lake 
shipping  was  then  established  as  a  war  measure;  and  also  as 
a  war  measure  there  was  a  suspension  of  the  convention  of 
1818  under  which  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  agreed 
that  no  war  vessels  should  be  built  or  maintained  on  the  lakes. 

C33] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION    OF   CANADA 


Impor- 
tance to 
the   cen- 
tral 

provinces 
of  the 
grain- 
handling 
business 


The  port 
equip- 
ment of 
Montreal 


Shipyards 
of  the 
central 
provinces 


State  of  New  York,  all  the  grain  from  Port  Arthur 
and  Fort  William  that  goes  to  Montreal,  whether 
directly  by  lake  and  canal,  or  by  way  of  Ontario 
transfer  ports,  goes  in  vessels  that  are  on  the 
Dominion  or  the  British  register. 

The  transport  business  in  this  Lake  Superior 
and  Montreal  grain  trade  is  thus  secured  to 
Canadian  vessels.  Ontario  ports  on  the  lower 
lakes  get  the  transfer  and  storage  business. 
Those  divisions  of  the  Grand  Trunk,  the  Canadian 
Pacific,  and  the  Canadian  Northern  railways  that 
are  in  the  provinces  of  Ontario  and  Quebec  get 
the  railway  haul. 

Montreal,  with  the  largest  and  best  grain- 
handling  equipment  of  any  tidewater  port  in  the 
world,  gets  the  tidewater  terminal  elevator 
business;  and  in  normal  times  the  transport  of 
grain  from  Port  Arthur  and  Fort  William  to 
Montreal  —  elevating,  storing,  and  shipping  it 
thence  overseas  —  puts  ten  cents  a  bushel  into 
the  treasuries  of  the  commission,  transport,  and 
elevator  companies  which  handle  the  business.^ 

Most  of  this  ten  cents  —  a  sum  which  does  not 
include  oversea  freight  charges  —  goes  in  pay- 
ment for  labor,  for  services  rendered  to  the 
shippers  of  grain.  It  represents  mainly  payments 
in  wages  to  men  who  are  employed  on  the  lake 
vessels,  on  the  railways,  and  in  the  elevators. 
It  is  this  grain  business  also  that  finds  work  for 

1  Cf.  Cowie,  "The  Transportation  Problem  in  Canada," 
47. 

C34] 


GEOGRAPHIC  AND  ECONOMIC  DIVISIONS 

the  shipyards  of  Ontario  and  Quebec,  for  the 
two  large  and  well-equipped  yards  on  the  St. 
Lawrence,  and  for  the  yards  on  the  lakes  at 
Kingston,  Toronto,  Collingwood,  and  Port  Arthur. 

There  has  been  an  increase  in  the  wheat  crop    share 
of  the  prairie  provinces  almost  every  year  since    central 
1884.     In  the  grain  year  191 5-1 91 6,  these  prov-   prov- 
inces had  264,000,000  bushels  of  wheat  for  ex-   ^^^ 
port.     Much  less  than  half  of  this  wheat  went   business 
oversea  from  Montreal,  Quebec,  Halifax,  and  St.    ^^^^i 
John.     The  greater  part  went  by  way  of  Buffalo,    grain 
and  was  shipped  across  the  Atlantic  from  Boston,   '°"*® 
New  York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  and  Newport 
News. 

The  constantly  increasing  production  of  wheat    Canals 
in  Canada  beyond  the  Great  Lakes,  the  value  of  °g^^ 
the  transport  business  to  Ontario  and  Quebec,    prov- 
and  the  long-established  and  successful  competi-    ^'^^^ 
tion  of  the  Buffalo  route,  explain  why,  since  1871, 
it  has  been  the  continuous  policy  of  the  Dominion 
government  to  improve  the  Canadian  canals  on 
the  national  grain  route. ^    The  aim  of  the  govern- 
ment at  Ottawa  in  constructing  the  lock  and  the 
canal  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  Ontario;   in  deepening 
and  enlarging  the  canals;  in  providing  a  fourteen- 
foot  waterway  in  the  Welland  and  St.  Lawrence 
canals;   in  creating  a  well-equipped  transfer  port 
at  Colborne  at  the  Lake  Erie  entrance  to  the 
Welland  Canal;    and  in  aiding  harbor  boards  to 

^  Cf.  Canal  Commission,  Sessional  Papers,  No.  54,  1871, 
17-35. 

[35] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


The 

transport 
policy- 
of  the 
Dominion 
govern- 
ment 


Montreal 

and 

Toronto 

the 

financial 

centers 

of  the 

Dominion 


equip  the  tidewater  ports  with  ample  elevator 
accommodation  and  grain-handhng  facilities,  was 
to  reduce  the  time  and  the  cost  of  lake  and  canal 
transport. 

For  forty  years  before  the  great  war,  canal  and 
port  improvements,  conceived  on  a  generous 
scale,  were  the  continuous  policy  of  both  Con- 
servative and  Liberal  governments  at  Ottawa. 
Its  aim  was  to  divert  as  much  as  possible  of  the 
export  grain  business  of  the  prairie  provinces 
from  Buffalo,  to  the  St.  Lawrence  canals  and  the 
Atlantic  ports  of  the  Dominion.  In  this  policy, 
as  in  the  policy  of  deepening  the  world-famous 
ship  channel  from  Montreal  to  Quebec,  the 
government  at  Ottawa,  regardless  of  party  com- 
plexion, always  had  the  support  of  central  Canada. 

Finally  in  this  examination  of  the  geographical 
and  economic  conditions  of  Ontario  and  Quebec  — 
conditions  which  must  be  understood,  if  there  is 
to  be  any  understanding  of  contemporary  poli- 
tics of  the  Dominion — there  is  the  fact  that 
Montreal  and  Toronto  are  the  financial  centers  of 
Canada.  These  cities  are  to  Canada  what  New 
York,  Boston,  and  Chicago  are  to  the  United 
States.  The  head  offices  of  the  great  banks  — 
banks  with  scores  of  branches  in  every  province  — 
are  in  Montreal  and  Toronto.  Those  of  the 
Grand  Trunk  and  the  Canadian  Pacific  railways 
are  in  Montreal. 

The  great  coal  companies  of  Nova  Scotia  and 
Alberta,  the   iron  and  steel  manufacturing  com- 

[36] 


GEOGRAPHIC  AND  ECONOMIC  DIVISIONS 

panics  of  Nova  Scotia  and  Ontario,  and  the  tex- 
tile companies  whose  mills  are  estabHshed  in  the 
industrial  cities  of  Ontario,  Quebec,  Nova  Scotia, 
and  New  Brunswick,  and  most  of  the  companies 
engaged  in  interprovincial  trade,  have  their 
headquarters  in  either  Montreal  or  Toronto. 
There  are  also  stock  and  grain  exchanges  in 
both  cities. 

Men    who    are    of   bank    and    trust    company   Finance 
directorates,  or  concerned  in  the  finance  of  rail-   *°,** 

politics 

ways  and  other  transport  companies,  or  are 
financiers  of  manufacturing  undertakings,  have 
much  influence  in  Dominion  politics.  These 
men  constitute  the  governing  class  of  Canada, 
and  their  influence  is  much  more  potent  at 
Ottawa  than  similar  influence  is  at  Westminster. 
It  is  greater  and  more  obvious  than  at  Washing- 
ton; ^  for  the  tariff^  and  transport  policies  of  the 
Dominion  government  more  frequently  originate 
in  Toronto  or  Montreal  than  with  the  cabinet  at 
Ottawa. 

The  influence  thus  exercised  by  Montreal  and    Govem- 
Toronto,    and    at   times    by    Halifax,    the   third    *^     , 
financial  center,  is  notorious  and  of  long  standing;    Canada 
and   when   a    rural    newspaper   with    a    circula- 
tion among  farmers  or  grain  growers  alludes  to 
Canadian  barons,  the  editor  has  in  mind  not  men 
who  are  of  the  lower  tier  of  the  British  peerage, 
but  the  men  who  are  dominant  in  the  offices  of 
the  great   corporations  which   have  their  head- 

^  Cf.  Clarus  Ager,  "The  Farmer  and  the  Interests,"  68. 

[37] 


The 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

quarters  in  Montreal  or  Toronto.^  These  two 
financial  centers,  and  the  social  life  incident  to 
them,  account  almost  as  much  as  the  long-estab- 
lished predominance  of  Ontario  and  Quebec  in 
politics,  in  manufacturing,  and  in  transport,  as 
well  as  in  journalism  and  literature,  for  the 
distinction  held  by  central  Canada  in  the  political, 
economic,  and  social  life  of  the  Dominion. 

III.    The  Prairie  Provinces 

What  is  known  by  railway  men  as  "the  Bridge" 
Bridge  separates  the  prairie  provinces  from  the  older, 
settled  area  of  Ontario.  The  Bridge  stretches 
from  North  Bay,  Ontario,  an  important  railway 
center  on  the  Grand  Trunk  and  Canadian  Pacific 
systems,  to  Kenora,  on  the  Lake  of  the  Woods, 
also  in  Ontario,  a  lake  of  singular  beauty  that  is 
part  of  the  eastern  boundary  of  Manitoba.^  The 
distance  from  North  Bay  to  Kenora  is  920  miles. 
The  journey  over  the  Bridge  takes  twenty-one 
hours  on  the  Imperial  Limited,  the  fastest  train 
that  travels  over  the  Canadian  Pacific  from 
Montreal  to  Vancouver. 

1  Cf.  "Canada's  Aristocracy,"  Grain  Growers'  Guidey 
Winnipeg,  June  25,  1913;  "Our  Canadian  Barons,"  Free 
Press,  Forest,  Ontario,  April  27,  1916.  "The  east  is  the  seat 
of  the  great  financial  and  transport  interests,  which  are 
shining  marks  for  many  a  western  brick."  —  "  East  and  West," 
Quarterly  Journal  of  the  Canadian  Bankers'  Association, 
Montreal,  June,  1917. 

2  Cf.  "East  and  West,"  Quarterly  Journal  of  the  Canadian 
Bankers'  Association^  Montreal,  June,  19 17. 

[38] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Physical         In  these  900  miles  of  wilderness,  where  the  soil 
charac-      jg  g^  p^^j.  ^g  ^q  warn  ofF  the  settler,  there  are 

teristlcs  '^  .   .  ,    . 

of  the  only  three  cities,  Fort  William,  Port  Arthur,  and 
Bridge  Sudbury.  These  cities  in  1916  had  an  aggregate 
population  of  not  more  than  35,000.  Besides 
these  there  are  few  settlements  large  enough  to 
warrant  being  described  as  villages.  The  country 
is  wild  and  picturesque.  There  are  indentations 
of  Lake  Superior  of  bewitching  charm,  small 
lakes,  rivers,  rocks,  and  hills. 

In  winter  the  temperature  on  parts  of  the 
Bridge  —  at  White  River  and  at  Chapleau,  for 
instance  —  is  lower  than  in  any  other  part  of  any 
province  of  the  Dominion.  In  summer  and 
autumn  the  climate  is  superb.  It  is  as  clear  and 
exhilarating  as  anywhere  on  the  North  American 
continent;  and  there  are  parts  of  the  Bridge  that 
are  famous  all  over  the  world  for  their  fishing 
and  hunting. 
Canada's  For  the  most  part,  however,  the  Bridge  is  a 
wilderness  with  only  the  railway  and  passing 
railway  trains  to  remind  one  of  the  civilization 
to  the  east  and  west  of  it.  There  can  be  no 
country  anywhere  in  the  British  oversea  domin- 
ions that  is  crossed  by  a  railway,  except  the 
Karoo  in  Cape  Colony,  that  yields  less  traffic  — 
passenger  or  freight  —  than  the  Bridge,  if  Sud- 
bury, Port  Arthur,  and  Fort  William  are  left  out 
of  the  count. 

The  Bridge  was  the  great  barrier  to  the  opening 
out  and  development  of  the  prairie  country  at 

[40]       . 


wilder 
ness 


GEOGRAPHIC  AND   ECONOMIC  DIVISIONS 

the  time  of  Confederation.     It  had  a  value  for   Barrier 
the  Hudson   Bay  Company,  which   before   1869    ^^^^ 
was  intent  only  on  exploiting  the  fur  trade,  and    west 
unloading   its    imported    wares  —  textiles,   hard- 
ware, and  tobacco  —  on  the  Indians;    and  conse- 
quently did  not  desire  civilization  or  community 
life  in  its  dooryard.     It  remained  a  barrier  against 
immigration    and    commerce    until    1884,    when 
after  fifteen  years  of  effort,  first  by  the  Dominion 
government,  and  later  by  the  Canadian  Pacific 
Railway  Company,  railway  communication  was 
established  between  Winnipeg  and  Port  Arthur. 

The  wilderness  from  North  Bay  to  Kenora  is   its 
still  a  barrier.    It  is  a  barrier  that  to  a  considerable    ^'*®'^<^* 
extent  still  isolates  western  Canada.     It  adds  to    economic 
the  cost  of  living  in  the  prairie  provinces.     Com-   ^^*" 
bined  with  a  fiscal  system  that  originated  with 
and  that  favors  Canada  east  of  the  Great  Lakes, 
it  makes  the  prairie  provinces  the  most  expensive 
part  of  the   British   Empire  in  which  to  dwell; 
for  Manitoba,  Saskatchewan,  and  Alberta  have 
no  forests  available  for  lumber,  little  manufac- 
turing, and  good  coal  is  mined  only  in  the  far 
northwest  of  Alberta. 

Canadian  flour  in  normal  times  is  cheaper  in   Cost  of 
England    than    it    is    in    the    prairie    provinces,    jj^^ 
Canadian  bacon,  for  which  Canadians  pay  from    prawe 
twenty-two  to  twenty-eight  cents  a  pound,  was   ^°^^ 
sold  in  England  before  the  war  for  from  fifteen 
to  twenty  cents  a  pound.     It  is  the  same  with 
fish,    lumber,    or    any    commodity    that    is    the 

C41] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

product  of  the  natural  industries  of  Canada;   and 
none   of  the   extra   price  which   Canadians   pay- 
goes  to  the  grain  growers  of  the  prairie  provinces.^ 
The  political   factors  which  largely  account  for 
these  economic  conditions  in  the  prairie  provinces 
are  determined  east  of  the  Bridge,  in  Toronto  and 
Montreal. 
Railways        Despite  the  fact  that  since  1914  the  Bridge  has 
^'°^^        been  crossed  by  two  railways  in  addition  to  the 
Bridge       pioneer  Canadian  Pacific,  —  the  National  Trans- 
continental,  that   extends   from   Moncton,   New 
Brunswick,    to    Winnipeg,    where    it    joins    the 
Grand    Trunk    Pacific    line    to    Prince    Rupert, 
British  Columbia,   and  the  Canadian  Northern, 
which  connects  all  four  western  provinces  with 
Toronto,   Montreal,    and   Quebec,  —  it   still   ob- 
viously influences  political,  economic,  and  social 
conditions  in  the  prairie  provinces. 
Area  These   provinces,  sharing   in  common  all  the 

of  the        physical  characteristics  that  the  word  "prairie" 
growing     suggests,  extend  from  the  Lake  of  ^the  Woods  to 
provinces    ^^^  Rocky  Mountains.     From  east  to  west  they 
stretch  over  a  distance  of  1000  miles.     North- 
ward they  extend  from  the  boundary  of  Dakota 
and  Montana  to  the  sixtieth  parallel. 
Where  On  the  east  the  grain-growing  country  begins 

grain         ^^  Whitemouth,  on  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway, 

elevators  r  r»  a      i  -i 

beginto      390  miles  west  of  Fort  Arthur,  and  50  miles  east 
sS^tat*   °^   Winnipeg.      Stony    Plain    and    Nordegg,    in 
Alberta,  were  in    191 6  the  most   northwesterly 
*  Harpell,  "Canadian  National  Economy,"  12. 
[42] 


GEOGRAPHIC  AND  ECONOMIC  DIVISIONS 

towns  in  the  grain-growing  area.  Nordegg  is 
1475  miles  from  Port  Arthur  and  2951  miles 
from  St.  John,  the  winter  grain  port  of  the  Do- 
minion. At  every  railway  station  in  the  country 
from  Whitemouth  to  Nordegg  there  are  small 
elevators  —  '*Hne"  or  "country"  elevators  as 
they  are  termed,  to  distinguish  them  from  ter- 
minal and  transfer  elevators. 

In  winter,  when  lake  navigation  is  closed,  grain   A  grain 
is  carried  from  these  interior  elevators  to  Fort   JJJj® 
William  and  Port  Arthur.     From  these  ports  it   mUeg 
is  taken  over  the  three  transcontinental  railways    ^°°* 
to  Montreal,  thence  to  Halifax,   St.  John,   and 
Portland,  Maine;   so  that  at  some  seasons  of  the 
year  grain  from  the  prairie  provinces  is  moving 
to  tidewater  over  an  all-Canadian  route  that  is 
3000  miles  long. 

In   the  fifteen  years  that  preceded  the  war.   Home- 
out  of  the  three  million  immigrants  who  arrived    ^^*^*" 
in  Canada  from  the  United  Kingdom,  from  the   grain 
United  States,  and  from  the  countries  of  Europe,    ^^""^ 
one  and  a  quarter  millions  went  into  the  prairie 
provinces;  ^     and   of  the   immigrants  who   went 
into  these  provinces  to  acquire  homesteads  from 
the  Dominion  government,  or  to  buy  land  from 
the  Hudson  Bay  Company  or  the  railway  com- 
panies,  ninety  out  of  every  hundred   had   em- 
barked in  grain  growing. 

The  outbreak  of  the  war,  coming  as  it  did  in 
a  period  of  industrial  and  commercial  depression 
^  Cf.  "Immigration  Facts  and  Figures,"  Ottawa,  1915,  4. 

[43] 


industry 


crop 
country 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

The  war  in  Canada  that  had  lasted  over  two  years  —  a 
^ain-*  depression  more  widespread  and  serious  than  any- 
growing  other  since  the  turn  of  the  twentieth  century — ■ 
gave  a  new  impulse  to  grain  growing  in  Mani- 
toba, Saskatchewan,  and  Alberta. 

The  result  is  easily  measurable.  The  average 
area  under  grain  in  the  prairie  provinces  from 
1910  to  1914  was  16,608,000  acres.  At  the 
second  harvest  after  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
the  aggregate  area  under  grain  was  19,797,000 
acres,  of  which  11,744,700  acres  were  under 
wheat  and  6,290,000  acres  under  oats.^ 
A  one-  There  is  some  cattle  ranching  in  Saskatchewan 

and  Alberta.  The  sheep  industry  also  has  long 
been  established  in  these  provinces.  As  the  popu- 
lation of  Winnipeg,  Regina,  Saskatoon,  Calgary, 
and  Edmonton  increased,  there  were  increases 
in  the  acreage  devoted  to  mixed  farming.  But 
the  prairie  provinces  do  not  supply  their  own 
needs.  They  import  large  quantities  of  potatoes, 
butter,  eggs,  cheese,  and  fruit. 

In  fact,  from  the  time  railway  connection 
was  established  with  Lake  Superior  ports  and 
eastern  Canada,  the  vast  territory  stretching 
west  from  Winnipeg  to  Calgary  and  Edmonton 
has  been  a  one-crop  country.  It  is  as  much  a 
one-crop  country  as  the  southern  states  in  which 
cotton  is  grown;  and  nine  tenths  of  the  people 
in  these  three  provinces  —  in  the  cities  as  well 

^  Cf.  Census  and  Statistics  Monthly,  Ottzwa,  Jsmuciry,  19 16, 
28. 

C44] 


eastern 
Canada 


GEOGRAPHIC  AND  ECONOMIC  DIVISIONS 

as  in  the  country  —  are  as  dependent  on  the 
grain  crop  as  the  people  in  Pittsburgh  are  on 
the  iron  and  steel  industry,  or  the  people  of  Fall 
River  on  the  cotton  mills. 

Economically  the  prairie  provinces  are  based    impor- 
on    grain    growing.      Every    city    in    Manitoba,   **^°' 
Saskatchewan,   and   Alberta  is   a  monument  to   growing 
the  success  of  grain  growing.     The  cities  east  of  ?    da 
Winnipeg  from  Kenora  to  St.  John  and  Halifax,    beyond 
and  in  particular  Toronto,  Hamilton,  and  Mont-   ^® 
real,  have  grown  in  importance,  extended  their   Lakes  to 
municipal   boundaries,   added   to   their   commer- 
cial houses  and  their  factories  and  to  their  popu- 
lation, as  a  result  of  the  development  in  Canada 
beyond  the  Great  Lakes. 

Eastern  Canada  of  the  twentieth  century  —   To 
Montreal  with  its  population  of  717,000 in  191 5,  ^°°*^«*^ 
Toronto    with     534,000,     and     Hamilton     with    Toronto 
102,000^ — owes  much  of  its  growth  since  1900, 
the  larger  part  of  it,  in  fact,  to  railway  building, 
home   building,   grain   growing,    and    urban   de- 
velopment in  the  prairie  provinces.    This  is  true 
also  of  Sydney  and  North  Sydney,  Nova  Scotia, 
with   the   largest   iron    and    steel   plants   in   the 
British  oversea  dominions.     It  is  equally  true  of 
Collingwood,   Kingston,   and    Port  Arthur,  with 
their  steel  shipbuilding  yards. 

The   prairie   provinces   realize  their  economic 
importance  to  Canada.    Were  there  no  boundary 

^  Estimated.     Cf.  Griflin,  "Canada,  the  Country  of  the 
Twentieth  Century,"  20. 

[453 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE   DOMINION   OF  CANADA 

line,   and    no    Canadian   custom-houses,    manu- 
factured  goods   that   are  needed   in   Manitoba, 
Saskatchewan   and  Alberta,  could   be  more  ad- 
vantageously supplied   from   Chicago,  St.  Paul, 
and  Minneapolis,  than  from  Toronto,  Hamilton, 
Montreal,  and  the  manufacturing  cities  of  the 
Maritime  Provinces. 
Attitude         Except  for  transport  services  and  for  loans,  the 
of^in-     provinces  in  the  east  are  of  little  economic  im- 
provinces    portance  to  the  gram-growmg  provmces.     Iheir 
eas^^oT^  consumption  of  grain  and  flour  does  not  affect 
the  the  price  of  grain.     The   price  that  the   grain 

Bridge  grower  receives  is  the  same  whether  the  grain 
be  exported  or  used  in  Canada.  It  is  always 
based  on  the  price  ruling  in  Liverpool  and  Lon- 
don.^ The  western  point  of  view  is  that  Mani- 
toba, Saskatchewan,  and  Alberta  could  thrive 
far  better  without  eastern  Canada  than  eastern 
Canada  could  thrive  without  the  grain-growing 
provinces. 
Protec-  The   western   country   that   lies   between   the 

toT^-  ^^^^^  Lakes  and  the  Rocky  Mountains  derives 
growing     no  benefit  from  the  high  tariff.    British  Columbia, 
industry     ^gfore  the  war,  had  no  manufacturing.     It  had 
no  iron  and  steel  plants  and  no  textile  industries. 
But  it  has  coal,  lumber,  fish,  and  fruit,  for  which 
there  is  a  market  in  Canada,  and  it  derives  con- 
siderable advantage  from  the  protective  duties  on 
these  products.      The   prairie  provinces,  except 
for  beef,  hides,  and  a  little  wool,  have  only  grain 
^  Cf.  Harpell,  "Canadian  National  Economy,"  12. 

[46: 


GEOGRAPHIC  AND  ECONOMIC  DIVISIONS 

and  flour  to  export,  either  to  eastern  Canada  or 
oversea;  and  while  the  tariff  does  not  influence 
the  price  of  grain,  it  greatly  increases  the  over- 
head charges  of  the  grain  grower  and  the  cost  of 
his  maintenance. 

The  tariff  is  consequently  the  dividing  line  in   Dividing 
politics  between  the  grain-growing  provinces  and   Jjl^^^^ 
eastern  Canada.     "More  and  more  the  east  is   poutics 
given  over  to  manufacture  and   commerce  and 
finance.     The  east  has  imposed  upon  the  west 
a  fiscal  system  which  it  terms  national,  but  which 
the  prairie  west  considers  sectional.^"    The  line 
is  further  accentuated  by  the  fact  that  so  much 
of  the  financial  and  political  power  of  the  Do- 
minion is  concentrated  in  Toronto  and  Montreal 
and  Halifax.^ 

Manifestations  of  the  attitude  of  the  prairie   Grain 
provinces  towards  eastern  Canada,  and  its  domi-   ^°^®^^ 
nance  in  politics  and  finance,  come  almost  ex-   politics 
clusively  from  the  grain  growers,  who  carry  most 
of  the  burden  of  the  tariff.^    The  grain  growers 
began  to  organize  locally  in   1903.     Since  then 
they  have  organized  by  provinces,  and  also  inter- 
provincially.     They  were  65,000  strong  in  191 7; 
and  for  five  or  six  years  before  the  war  they  were 
better  organized,  more  articulate,  and  more  in- 
fluential  in    provincial   and    Dominion    politics, 

*  "East  and  West,"  ^uarUrly  Journal  of  the    Canadian 
Bankers*  Association,  Montreal,  June,  19 17. 

*  Of.  Clarus  Ager,  "The  Farmer  and  the  Interests,"  34. 

*  Cf.  "The  Farmers'  Platform,"  3-53. 

[47] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

than  any  other  of  the  social  and  economic  forces 
of  the  Dominion,  except  the  bankers  and  finan- 
ciers and  the  manufacturers. 
Municipal       In  municipal  and  provincial  politics  the  prairie 
^ir^rship  provinces  are  distinctly  radical.    They  are  much 
prairie       more  radical,  more  disposed  to  political  experi- 
provinces    n^gnt,  than  Ontario,  Quebec,  Nova  Scotia,  and 
New    Brunswick.      Water    supplies    and    sewers 
are  the  only  public  utilities  in  eastern  Canada 
owned    by    the    municipalities.      In    the    prairie 
provinces  cities  own  street-car  lines,  natural-gas 
systems,  and  electric  light  and  power  undertakings. 
Public  The    provincial    governments    own    telegraph 

utilities      ^^^  telephone  systems;    and  in  the  years  from 
by  the        1910  to  1912  the  governments  of  all  three  prov- 
provinciai   Ji^^es,  at  the   urging  of  the  grain  growers'  asso- 
ments        ciations,  took  the  ground  that  country  elevators 
are  public  utilities,  and  legislation  was  enacted 
providing    for    the    public    ownership    of   these 
utilities. 

The  prairie  provinces  form  the  most  agrarian 
division  of  Canada  —  a  fact  that  is  manifest  in 
much  of  the  legislation  enacted  at  Winnipeg, 
Regina,  and  Edmonton.  It  is  equally  manifest 
in  the  attitude  of  the  grain  growers  of  the  three 
provinces  towards  tariflF,  fiscal,  and  railway  legis- 
lation at  Ottawa.^ 

The  economic  importance  of  this  geographic 
division   of  the   dominion   will   increase   as   new 
homesteads    are    carved    out    of   the    25,700,000 
^  Cf.  "The  Farmers'  Platform,"  6-26,  27-40,  and  41-49. 

C48] 


GEOGRAPHIC   AND   ECONOMIC  DIVISIONS 

acres  of  surveyed  lands  that  were  available  for   Growing 
settlement  when  immigration  into  Canada  from    ^"*^^ 
England  and  Scotland  and  other  European  coun-   tanceof 
tries  was   brought  to   a  standstill   by  the  great   *^q,|^^" 
war.     With  the  increase  of  population  that  the    provinces 
settlement  of  these  lands  will  bring,  there  will 
be  an  increase  in  the  parHamentary  representa- 
tion of  the   prairie   provinces   at  Ottawa.     The 
continued    political    dominance   of  Ontario    and 
Quebec  is  consequently  not  assured  —  not  nearly 
so  assured  as  their  dominance  in  manufacturing, 
transport,  and  finance. 

IV.   British  Columbia 

British  Columbia,  a  province  that  Canadians    Wonder- 
like  to  describe  as  the  wonderland  of  Canada,^   ^*°^ 
is  the  fourth  of  the  geographical  and  economic  Dominion 
divisions  of  the  Dominion.    The  state  of  Wash- 
ington  forms   its    southern    boundary.     On   the 
east  it  has  Alberta  as  a  neighbor;   on  the  north 
it  is  bounded  by  Alaska  and  the  northwest  terri- 
tories, and  on  the  west  by  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

Vancouver  Island,   285   miles  long   and   from    Most 
40  to  80  miles  wide,  is  included  in  British  Colum-    beautiful 

.  .  .  capital 

bia.  Victoria,  on  Vancouver  Island,  has  been  in  the 
a  political  capital  since  1850.  It  has  been  the  ^^^^ 
capital  of  the  province  since  the  government  of 
the  island  and  the  mainland  was  united  in  1866. 
By  its  situation  and  environment  it  is  the  most 
beautiful  capital  in  the  British  Empire,  not  even 
1  Cf.  Griffin,  153. 

[49] 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE   DOMINION   OF  CANADA 

excepting  Capetown,  where  the  parliament  house 
of  the  Union  of  South  Africa  occupies  a  com- 
manding site  on  the  slope  of  Table  Mountain, 
with  the  Atlantic  Ocean  in  view  from  the  windows 
of  the  legislative  chambers.  The  windows  of 
the  legislative  building  at  Victoria  look  out  on 
Puget  Sound;  and  from  the  windows  of  the 
legislative  library,  one  of  the  best-equipped 
libraries  in  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  are  visible 
the  snow-capped  mountains  of  the  State  of 
Washington. 
Tide-  Two  thirds  of  the  population  of  British  Colum- 

dtieTof     ^^^  —  ^^°  thirds  of  a  total  population  of  400,000 
British       — were  in  1916  resident  on  Vancouver  Island, 
Columbia   ^j.  ^j^   tidewater  of  the   mainland.     Vancouver 
had    then    a    population    of    106,000;     Victoria, 
60,000;    New  Westminster,   17,000;    and  Prince 
Rupert,  the  new  city  created  by  the  Grand  Trunk 
Pacific,  550  miles  north  of  Vancouver,  3500.^ 
Cities  Rossland,  a  mining  town,  and  Nelson,  Ashcroft, 

^^®  Kamloops,  and  Revelstoke,  railway  and  distrib- 
uting centers,  are  the  only  cities  in  the  interior. 
The  province  is  separated  from  Alberta  by  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  a  barrier  almost  as  great  from  a 
political  and  economic  point  of  view  as  the  wil- 
derness that  lies  between  Kenora  and  North  Bay. 
The  physical  characteristics  of  British  Colum- 
bia—  its  climate,  seashore,  mountains,  passes, 
rivers,  lakes,  and  forests;   its  fruit  orchards,  coal 

1  The  last  Dominion  census  was  taken  in  191 1.    These 
figures  are  estimates.    Cf.  Griffin,  20. 

[50] 


GEOGRAPHIC  AND  ECONOMIC  DIVISIONS 

and  other  mineral  resources;    and  its  fisheries —   Physical 
are  the  pride  of  the  Dominion.    It  is  to  Victoria   ?^^ 

*  ...  tensacs 

and  Vancouver  that  men  retire  m  old   age  after   and  re- 
gaining wealth   in   the   prairie   provinces   or   in   ^^^^ 
eastern  Canada.    Victoria  is  the  Newport  of  the   province 
Dominion.     Vancouver   is    its    Narragansett    or 
Atlantic  City. 

The  social  characteristics  of  British  Coulmbia  Social 
are  as  well  marked  as  those  of  Quebec.  In  British  ^^^^^^' 
Columbia  people  of  English  birth  or  stock  are 
predominant.  The  Scotch  have  no  such  hold 
on  British  Columbia  as  they  have  on  Ontario  or 
Nova  Scotia.  From  1850  until  Confederation, 
the  newcomers  into  British  Columbia,  other  than 
Chinese,  were  from  England. 

These  newcomers  were  of  the  English  middle   immi- 
classes;     for   before   the   Canadian    Pacific   con-   P^*f 

.  .  Into  the 

nected  Vancouver  with  Montreal,  it  was  a  costly   province 
undertaking  to  emigrate  from  England  to  British    ^°^^^ 
Columbia.    Even  after  the  railway  was  completed    England 
in  1886,  there  was  little  change  in  the  class  of 
immigrants;    and  the  great  immigration  propa- 
ganda of  the  Dominion  government  of  1 898-1914 
had    been    pushed    for    ten   years    before  there 
was    a    proletarian    immigration    from    England 
and    Scotland  and    from  the  countries  of  conti- 
nental Europe  into  the  three  large  cities  of  Brit- 
ish Columbia. 

Externally   Vancouver   and   Victoria    are   the   The 
two  most  English  cities  in  the  Dominion  —  Eng-   ^^IL^ 
lish  as  regards  the  homes  of  the  people  and  their   cities 

[51] 


EVOLUTION    OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


British 
Columbia 
from 
1850  to 
Confeder- 
ation 


Influence 
of  British 
Columbia 
on 

Confeder- 
ation 


setting;  English  in  social  life,  in  particular  in 
outdoor  social  life;  and  English  in  fashions  in 
dress  and  furniture. 

British  Columbia,  like  Ontario,  takes  pride  in 
its  pre-Confederation  history  and  traditions.  It 
does  so  with  as  good  reason  as  Ontario  or  Quebec; 
for  between  1850  and  1871,  when  British  Colum- 
bia came  into  Confederation,  more  constitutional 
history  was  made  in  the  little  city  of  Victoria 
than  in  any  other  city  in  the  oversea  possessions 
of  Great  Britain. 

The  constitutional  history  that  was  made  in 
Victoria  in  these  twenty-one  years  did  not  affect 
the  dominions  as  did  the  constitutional  history 
that  was  made  between  1837  and  1867  at  Toronto, 
Kingston,  Montreal,  and  Quebec.  It  did  affect 
the  terms  on  which  British  Columbia  came  into 
Confederation;  and  these  terms  greatly  influ- 
enced the  political  and  economic  history  of 
Canada. 

Had  Victoria  been  merely  a  trading  post  of  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company,  like  Fort  Garry,  which, 
after  Manitoba  came  into  Confederation,  became 
known  to  the  world  as  Winnipeg,  or  had  the 
statesmen  of  British  Columbia  of  1 866-1 872  not 
been  men  of  vision,  alert,  persistent,  and  resource- 
ful, there  is  no  telling  how  long  would  have  been 
delayed  the  carrying  through  of  the  railway  from 
Montreal  to  Vancouver. 

No  group  of  men  in  any  British  colony  ever 
better  earned   the  title  of  statesmen   than   the 

[52] 


GEOGRAPHIC  AND  ECONOMIC  DIVISIONS 

group  at  Victoria  who  were  in  control  after  the  sritiBh 

Hudson    Bay   Company   had    been   ousted   from  ^^^^^ 

Vancouver  Island  in  1849.     They  had  been  in-  men 

fluenced  by  the  successful  movement  for  parlia-  °'*^ 

.  .  pre-Con- 

mentary  reform  in  England.  They  had  witnessed  federa- 
the  rebirth  of  English  municipal  institutions  that  "°°  ^^ 
followed  so  quickly  the  reform  of  the  house  of 
commons  of  1832;  and  they  had,  moreover,  the 
genius  for  working  representative  institutions  — 
parliamentary  and  municipal  —  in  the  English 
spirit  that  became  so  widespread  in  England  in 
the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

The  immigrants  to  British  Columbia  from  Eng-    Political 
land  of  the  years  from  1849  to  1871,  when  they   ^^°^^ 
were  establishing  themselves  in  what  was  then    early 
the  most  remote  and  isolated  of  all  the  British    s®"^®^^ 

in 

North  American  colonies,  knew  what  political  British 
institutions  would  meet  their  needs.  They  knew  Columbia 
what  they  wanted  from  the  colonial  office  in 
London,  in  the  days  when  British  Columbia  was 
a  crown  colony,  with  no  relation  to  eastern  Canada 
except  that  it  was  on  the  same  continent,  under 
the  same  sovereign,  and  that  it  had,  like  eastern 
Canada,  the  United  States  as  its  neighbor. 
They  also  knew  what  they  wanted  from  Ottawa 
and  from  London  at  Confederation;  and  in  the 
long  run  —  in  the  period  from  1849  to  1871  — 
they  got  what  they  demanded  from  the  British 
and  the  Dominion  governments. 

Before  Confederation  eastern  Canada  knew  as 
little  about  Victoria  as  it  did  about  Capetown. 

[53] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE   DOMINION   OF  CANADA 


The  old- 
time 
Isolation 
of  British 
Columbia 


Crown 
colony 
stage  of 
British 
Coltunbla 


Repre- 
sentative 
govern- 
ment 
estab- 
lished 


Twenty 
years  of 
poUUcal 
achieve- 
ment 


British  Columbia  was  then  almost  as  remote 
from  Toronto  or  Quebec  as  Cape  Colony.  Over- 
land it  could  be  reached  only  through  the  United 
States,  by  way  of  San  Francisco,  which  was  then 
to  Victoria  much  what  Boston  has  long  been  to 
Halifax  and  St.  John. 

Political  rule  at  Victoria  by  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company  came  to  an  end  in  1849.  From  1849 
to  1 871  British  Columbia  was  a  crown  colony; 
and  there  was  a  period  —  1 864-1 866  —  during 
which  there  were  two  British  colonies  on  the 
Pacific  coast  —  Vancouver  Island,  with  Victoria 
as  the  capital,  and  the  mainland,  with  New 
Westminster  as  the  capital. 

Representative  government,  with  an  elected 
legislative  assembly  and  a  nominated  legislative 
council,  was  established  for  Vancouver  Island  in 
1856.  The  entire  white  population  of  the  island 
and  the  mainland  was  then  not  more  than  450, 
of  whom  300  were  resident  at  Victoria,^  which 
from  1856  to  1 871  was  the  Athens  of  the  over- 
sea dominions  of  Great  Britain.'^ 

There  were  only  8500  white  men  in  the  whole 
of  British  Columbia  at  Confederation.  Yet  such 
was  the  political  activity  at  Victoria  between  1851, 
when  its  first  legislative  council  was  established, 
and    1872,  that  in  these   twenty-one   years   the 

*  Cf.  Begg,  201. 

'  Cf.  Report  by  James  D.  Edgar  to  Secretary  of  State 
for  Canada,  June  17,  1874,  Canadian  Sessional  Papers,  1880, 
page  167. 

LS4l 


GEOGRAPHIC  AND  ECONOMIC  DIVISIONS 

people  of  British  Columbia  secured  for  themselves 
(i)  a  legislature  with  an  elected  chamber,  and  a 
chamber  in  which  the  members  were  nominated; 
(2)  a  municipal  system  on  the  English  model  for 
Victoria;  (3)  an  educational  system,  free  and 
unsectarian,  over  which  no  church  —  Protestant 
or  Roman  CathoHc  —  was  permitted  any  control; 
(4)  a  ruling  by  the  legislative  assembly  which 
defeated  an  attempt  to  make  the  assembly 
bilingual,  as  was  the  legislature  of  Ontario  and 
Quebec  at  this  time,  and  as  parliament  at  Ottawa 
has  been  since  Confederation;  ^  and  (5)  the 
right  of  the  colony  to  make  its  own  protective 
tariffs,  to  pay  bounties  to  encourage  local  indus- 
tries, and  the  liberty  to  apply  to  Washington 
for  inclusion  in  the  Elgin-Marcy  reciprocity  treaty 
of  1 854-1 866. 

All  this  progress  towards  autonomy  had  been    conces- 
made  before  the  negotiations  which  preceded  the   3°^^^° 
entry  of  British  Columbia  into  Confederation  were   Columbia 
begun  in  1869.    As  a  result  of  these  negotiations   J^^^^, 
with    the   colonial    office   in    London,    and    with    erauon 
Ottawa,  British  Columbia  secured  (i)  the  right 
to   responsible   government,   to   a   status   similar 
to  that  of  the  five  provinces  of  eastern  Canada; 
(2)  liberty  to  abolish  the  bicameral  system  and 
substitute  a  single-chamber  legislature,  with  all 

*  "A  petition  was  brought  forward,  but  being  in  French  it 
was  turned  back,  as  the  house  cannot  receive  petitions  written 
in  any  foreign  language."  "MS.  Journals  of  Representative 
Assembly,"  August  24,  1858. 

Lssl 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Crown 
lands 


Slow 
economic 
develop- 
ment of 
British 
Columbia 


Its   members   directly   chosen    by   the   electors;  ^ 

(3)  pledges  from  the  government  at  Ottawa  for 
the  construction  of  a  telegraph  line  and  a  rail- 
way from  eastern  Canada  to  the  Pacific  coast; 

(4)  a  representation  in  parliament  of  three  sena- 
tors and  five  members  of  the  house  of  commons; 
and  (5)  complete  control  of  the  vast  area  of 
crown  lands  within  the  province.^ 

In  respect  to  crown  lands,  British  Columbia  has 
an  advantage  over  Manitoba,  Saskatchewan,  and 
Alberta,  the  provinces  which  were  brought  into 
Confederation  by  legislation  originating  and  en- 
acted at  Ottawa.  Crown  lands  in  these  three  prov- 
inces remain  under  the  control  of  the  Dominion 
government  —  the  only  lands  in  provinces  that 
are  so  controlled;  for  at  Confederation  Ontario, 
Quebec,  Nova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick,  and  Prince 
Edward  Island,  as  was  the  case  with  British  Co- 
lumbia, retained  control  of  their  crown  lands. 

From  Confederation  to  1914  the  economic  de- 
velopment of  British  Columbia,  and  its  growth 
in  population,  were  comparatively  slow.  Until 
1907-1908  central  Canada  and  the  prairie  prov- 

1  "The  two-chamber  system  in  these  young  countries  is  a 
superstition  which  grew  out  of  the  social  conditions  of  Eng- 
land —  a  social  condition  which  has  no  counterpart  in  her 
colonies." — British  Colonist,  October  19,  1871. 

2  "No  wonder,  then,  that  Governor  Musgrave  (Sir  An- 
thony Musgrave,  governor  of  British  Columbia,  1869-1871) 
should  have  stated  publicly  that  he  was  amazed  at  the  con- 
cessions granted  by  the  Canadian  government."  —  Edward 
Blake,  house  of  commons,  Ottawa,  March  28,  1871. 

[56] 


GEOGRAPHIC  AND  ECONOMIC  DIVISIONS 

inces  absorbed  the  great  stream  of  immigration 
that  flowed  into  the  Dominion.  The  population 
of  British  Columbia  in  1901  was  only  lySjCXX), 
including  Chinamen  and  Indians. 

The  Canadian  Northern  and  the  Grand  Trunk   An  era 
Pacific  railways  were  constructed  across  British   °^, 

.  .    .  .  railway 

Columbia,  and  their  termini  established  at  New   buuding 
Westminster,  Vancouver,  and  Prince  Rupert,  in    ^^^' 
the  years  between   1907   and   1914.     The  great   immi- 
increase  in  the  population  of  the  prairie  provinces,    ^**^°" 
and  this  railway  construction,  aided  the  develop- 
ment of  British  Columbia.     Lumber,  coal,  fish, 
and  fruit  were  in  increasing  demand  in  the  grain- 
growing  provinces. 

In  these  years,  with  improved  railway  com- 
munication and  with  prosperity  all  over  the 
Dominion,  British  Columbia  became  increasingly 
the  pleasure  ground  of  Canada;  and  the  first 
boom  in  its  history  —  a  boom  at  the  height  of 
which  prices  for  real  estate  in  Vancouver  and 
Victoria  mounted  as  high  as  prices  for  real  estate 
in  central  London  —  continued  until  within  a 
year  of  the  war. 

The  resources  of  British  Columbia  are  lumber,  a  pro- 
coal,  fish,  and  fruit.  It  exports  all  these  products  *®*=^^s* 
oversea.  In  the  decade  before  the  war  it  marketed 
lumber,  fish,  and  fruit  in  the  prairie  provinces, 
and  to  some  extent  also  in  eastern  Canada. 
British  Columbia  was  a  protectionist  province 
in  the  pre-Confederation  era.  It  was  almost  as 
protectionist  as  Ontario;    and  as  a  result  of  the 

C57] 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

protection  of  its  lumber  and  fruit-growing  indus- 
tries by  the  Dominion  tariff,  it  is  politically 
allied  with  central  Canada  and  Nova  Scotia  and 
New  Brunswick,  and  not  with  its  neighbors 
immediately  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  —  the 
agrarian,  radical,  and  free-trade  provinces  of 
Alberta,  Saskatchewan,  and  Manitoba. 


C58D 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION 
OF  CANADA.    I783  TO  184O 


T 


HE  loss  of  the  American  colonies  ended  one   a  new 
era  in   British   colonial  history  and  began    ^^^ 
a  new  one.     It  began  the  eventful  and  beneficent   colonial 
era  that  extended  from  1783  to  1914  —  an  era    ^**°'^ 
parallel  to,   and  greatly  influenced   by,  the  era 
of  constitutional   reform    and    progress   towards 
democracy  in  Great  Britain  that  extended  from 
1832  to  the  outbreak  of  the  war. 

British  colonies  at  the  end  of  the  American   British 
revolution    were    Canada,    Newfoundland,    the   ^^^ 
British  West  Indies,  Australia  and  New  Zealand,    sions  at 
and  a  number  of  smaller  possessions  now  in  the   ^^^^^ 
crown  colony  division  of  the  colonial  office.    India   American 
in  1783  was  under  the  control  of  the  East  India   j"^^ 
Company.     It  was  not  transferred   to  the  im- 
perial government  until  1858. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  new  era  there  were  no  Canada 
British  settlements  in  either  Australia  or  New  ^^"^^ 
Zealand.  Canada  included  the  vast  territory 
under  the  rule  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company; 
Quebec,  which  then  extended  from  the  Detroit 
River  to  the  western  boundary  of  what  is  now  the 
province  of  New  Brunswick;  Nova  Scotia;  and 
Prince  Edward  Island. 

LS9l 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Popa- 

lation 

of  the 

British 

North 

American 

provinces 

at  the 

end  of 

American 

revolution 


The  only  white  inhabitants  of  the  country 
west  of  the  Detroit  River  were  the  factors  or 
agents  and  other  employees  of  the  Hudson  Bay 
Cornpany.  In  Quebec  the  white  population  did 
not  exceed  113,000,  of.  whom  it  was  estimated 
15,000  were  of  British  origin.  Nova  Scotia, 
which  then  included  New  Brunswick  and  Prince 
Edward    Island,    had    a    population    of  42,700.^ 

In  Newfoundland  there  were  about  10,000 
inhabitants.  In  all  the  oversea  possessions  of 
Great  Britain  at  the  end  of  the  American  revolu- 
tion, the  white  population  was  not  more  than 
170,000,  more  than  half  of  whom  were  French- 
Canadians. 


Impelling 
forces 
towards 
coloni- 
zation 
in  1783 


I.   Influence  of  the  American  Revolution  on 
British  North  America 

Enthusiasm  for  colonial  possessions  was  damped 
by  the  loss  of  the  American  colonies;  and  a  period 
of  indifference  and  stagnation  in  regard  to  them 
might  have  begun  in  1783  had  it  not  been  for 
two  conditions  which  arose  out  of  the  war  with 
the  American  colonies.  One  of  these  conditions, 
the  convicts    in   England,  who  during  the  war 

^  For  these  statistics  of  population  I  am  indebted  to 
Mr.  William  Smith,  secretary  to  the  board  of  publications, 
public  archives  of  Canada,  Ottawa.  The  United  Empire 
Loyalists,  about  15,000,  are  not  included  in  the  population 
statistics  for  Canada.  In  those  for  Nova  Scotia,  the  then 
recently  arrived  United  Empire  Loyalists,  as  well  as  disbanded 
troops,  in  all  28,000  men,  women,  and  children,  are  included, 
as  are  also  400  Acadians. 

[60: 


EVOLUTION   FROM   1783  TO   1840 

had  been  temporarily  detained  in  hulks  awaiting 
penal  transportation  oversea,  created  a  seriously 
embarrassing  domestic  problem.  The  second 
condition,  the  obligation  of  the  British  govern- 
ment to  the  Tories  or  United  Empire  Loyalists 
of  the  revolution,  existed  in  the  United  States, 
in  Canada,  and  in  Nova  Scotia;  and  after  the 
peace  of  1783  presented  a  problem  that  admitted 
of  no  delay  in  solution. 

Convicts  had  been  sent  out  from  England  to   Convict 
the  American  colonies  from  as  early  as  161 8  to    ^®"^f- 

.  ,  -.  ments  in 

1776.     They  were  commg  at  the  rate  of  400  or   Australia 
500   a   year  in   the   decade  which   preceded   the. 
revolution.     At  the  end  of  the  war  the  British 
government   determined   to   establish    a   convict 
settlement  in  Australia. 

Seven   hundred    men    and    women,   and    boys    The  first 
and    girls,   condemned    to   transportation    under   JjfBriti\ 
the  revoltingly  brutal  code  of  the  eighteenth  cen-   colonies 
tury,  were  sent  to  Port  Jackson,  the  present  site   ^^?^ 
of  Sydney,  New  South  Wales,  in  1787;    and  be-   revoiu- 
tween  then  and  1830,  25,000  convicts  were  trans-   **°^ 
ported  to  New  South  Wales  and  Van  Dieman's 
Land.     The   successful   revolt   of  the  American 
colonies    thus    led    almost    immediately    to    the 
colonization  of  AustraHa;  for  in  1788  New  South 
Wales  was  formally  proclaimed  a  British  colony. 
It  was  under  crown  colony  rule  until  1855;    and 
convicts  were  transported  thither  until  1841.^ 

*  Cf.  "The  Oxford  Survey  of  the  British  Empire  —  Gen- 
eral Survey,"  VI,  152-153. 

[61] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

United  A  large  immigration  of  United  Empire  Loyal- 

Empire      jg^g  £j.Qj^  ^j^g  United  States  to  the  British  North 

Loyalists 

as  wards    American  provinces,  and  the  Quebec  act  of  1791, 
«.?!.       were   the   developments   in   the   solution   of  the 

British  r       1  1  •    • 

govern-  second  of  these  problems  arising  directly  out 
°**"*  of  the  war  of  1 776-1 783.  The  United  Empire 
Loyalists  became  the  wards  of  the  British  gov- 
ernment after  the  treaties  of  Versailles  and  Paris; 
and  they  remained  the  peculiar  care  of  the  Brit- 
ish government  for  a  decade  after  the  revolution. 
The  British  government  arranged  for  and 
financed  the  transportation  to  Canada  of  all  the 
United  Empire  Loyalists  who  wished  to  leave  the 
United  States.  It  oflFered  them  houses  and  lands 
in  Nova  Scotia  and  Quebec.  It  maintained  many 
of  them  while  they  were  reestablishing  them- 
selves; and  it  also  appointed  a  royal  commission 
to  award  compensation  to  them  for  the  material 
loss  they  had  incurred  in  the  American  revolu- 
tion. Most  of  the  United  Empire  Loyalists  were 
too  poor  to  go  to  England.  Canada  seemed  to 
them  the  most  hopeful  country  of  refuge. 
Exodus  to  The  exodus  to  Canada  —  an  exodus  regarded 
by  Canadian  historians  as  comparable  with  the 
exodus  of  the  Huguenots  from  France  ^  —  had 
begun  before  the  treaty  of  peace  was  signed  at 
Versailles.  Nine  transports  sailed  from  New 
York  for  Annapolis  Royal,  Nova  Scotia,  in  April, 
1782.  Another  company  of  7000  men,  women, 
and  children  sailed  from  New  York  in  April, 
^  Cf.  Wallace,  "The  United  Empire  Loyalists,"  3. 

[62] 


Canada  of 
1783-1784 


into 
Quebec 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1783  TO   1840 

1783.  Half  of  them  went  to  what  is  now  St. 
John,  New  Brunswick,  and  the  other  half  to 
Port  Roseway,  Shelbourne  County,  Nova  Scotia. 

By  the  end  of  September,  1783,  18,000  of  the   Move- 
loyalists  had  reached  Nova  Scotia;    and  as  late   ™^^q^, 
as  January,  1784,  they  were  still  arriving  at  St.    scotia 
John.      Canadian    historians    compute   that   the 
total  immigration  of  1 782-1 783   into  what   are 
now  the  Maritime  Provinces  was  about  35,000.^ 

There  was  an  immigration  of  loyalists  into  inroad 
Quebec  as  early  as  1776.  A  stream  of  immigra- 
tion began  after  the  defeat  of  Burgoyne,  at  Sara- 
toga, in  1777.  By  the  end  of  that  year  3000 
loyalists  were  in  the  province  —  most  of  them  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Three  Rivers,  where  "every- 
thing in  reason  was  done  to  make  the  unfortu- 
nates comfortable." 

After  the  treaty  of  peace  had  been  concluded, 
the  stream  of  immigration  overland  to  Quebec 
greatly  increased  in  volume.  There  were  nearly 
7000  United  Empire  Loyalists  in  the  French 
province  in  the  winter  of  1 783-1 784;  and  the 
resources  of  the  British  government  were  strained 
to  the  utmost  to  provide  for  the  necessities  of  the 
thousands  who  had  thus  flocked  over  the  border 
line  from  the  United  States.^ 

At  the  time  the  exodus  from  the  United  States 
began,  Quebec,  Nova  Scotia,  and  Prince  Edward 
Island  were  the  only  organized  provinces  in 
Canada.    In  only  two  of  them.  Nova  Scotia  and 

1  Cf.  Wallace,  63.  «  Cf.  Wallace,  ibid.y  92^3. 

[63] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF  CANADA 


PoUtical 

status  of 

the 

British 

North 

American 

provinces 

in  1783- 

1784 


Quebec 
constitu- 
tion 
of  1774 


Prince  Edward  Island,  was  there  organized  civil 
government  in  which  the  colonists  had  any  part 
through  elected  legislatures.  In  1758  a  legisla- 
tive assembly  had  been  established  at  Halifax, 
for  the  province  of  Nova  Scotia;  and  there  had 
come  into  being  a  legislature  which  today  has 
the  distinction  of  being  the  oldest  law-making 
body  in  any  of  the  British  oversea  dominions.^ 

Prince  Edward  Island  had  been  created  a 
separate  colony  in  1769,  at  a  time  when  there 
were  only  about  150  families  on  the  island;  ^  and 
in  1773  a  legislature,  with  an  elected  assembly, 
had  been  established  at  Charlottetown. 

The  wide  but  sparsely  populated  province  of 
Quebec  was  administered  at  this  time,  and  until 
1 791,  under  a  constitution  framed  by  the  British 
government,  and  enacted  by  parliament  at  West- 
minster in  1774.  Under  this  constitution,  which 
had  aroused  much  opposition  from  Chatham, 
Burke,  Townshend,  Dunning,  and  Barrie,  and 
the  Whigs  as  a  party,  all  power  was  vested  in  the 
governor.  There  was  a  nominated  legislative 
council,  with  extremely  restricted  powers  —  with 
less  legislative  power  than  is  exercised  today  by 
Canadian  municipal  councils.' 

It  was  a  nominated  council,  because  as  North 


1  Cf.    Burpee,    "Sandford     Fleming,    Empire     Builder,' 


271-275. 

2  Cf.  Weaver, 


A  Canadian  History,"  125. 
2  Cf.  Egerton,  "  Historical  Geography  of  the  British  Colo- 
nies," Vol.  V,  pt.  ii,  12,  13. 

[64] 


EVOLUTION   FROM   1783  TO   1840 

told  the  house  of  commons  in  1774,  there  was  at 
the  time  not  a  sufficient  number  of  English  people 
in  Quebec  to  elect  a  legislature  similar  to  that 
which  had  been  established  at  Halifax.  No  pro- 
vision was  made  in  the  Quebec  constitution  — 
a  constitution  which  Chatham  declared  "tore 
up  justice  and  every  good  principle  by  the  roots" 
—  for  habeas  corpus,  or  for  the  trial  of  civil  cases 
by  jury.^ 

The  constitution  recognized  and  continued  the   Position 
Roman  Catholic  church  in  Quebec  as  an  estab-   ^^^ 
lished  church,  collecting  tithes  and  church  levies,    cathoUc 
and  enforcing  its  own  decrees  as  to  marriage  and    Q^^^g^.^ 
the  nullification  of  marriage.     These  were  great 
advantages  for  the  church,  especially  when  they 
were  compared  with  the  constitutional  disabili- 
ties which  were  the  lot  of  the  adherents  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  church  in  England,  Ireland,  and 
Scotland  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury.   They  were  advantages  that  partly  account 
for  the  hostility  of  the  church  in  Quebec  to  the 
American  revolution;  for  it  was  realized  by  the 
clergy  that  all  these  valuable  privileges  enjoyed 
under  the  constitution  of  1774  must  come  to  an 
end  if  Quebec  became  a  state  in  the  American 
Union. 

French-Canadians,  and  in  particular  the  hier- 
archy of  the  church,  from  1783  to  1791,  had  no 
complaint  against  the  constitution  of  1774.     It 
was  the  large  inflow  of  United  Empire  Loyalists 
»  Cf.  W.  R.  Riddell,  "  The  Constitution  of  Canada,"  9-14. 

C65] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


United 
Empire 
Loyalists 
demand 
a  new 
constitu- 
tion for 
Quebec 


Potency 

of 

American 

influence 

in  the 

years 

from 

1784  to 

1791 


that  made  a  new  constitution  imperative.  A 
government  with  an  elected  legislature  had  been 
established  for  New  Brunswick  —  a  province 
carved  out  of  Nova  Scotia  —  in  1784,  almost 
before  the  stream  of  immigration  of  United 
Empire  Loyalists  to  the  St.  John  River  country 
had  come  to  an  end. 

Before  the  Quebec  act  of  1774  was  passed  by 
parliament,  English  colonists  at  Three  Rivers, 
Quebec,  and  Montreal  had  urged  the  establish- 
ment of  a  legislative  assembly.  There  were 
agitations  for  an  assembly  in  1769,  and  again 
in  1773;  for  military  rule,  such  as  existed  from 
1763  to  1774,  never  commended  itself  to  colonists 
of  British  origin. 

II.    Upper  and  Lower  Canada  under  the 
Constitutions  of  lygi 

For  130  years  America  has  influenced  political 
and  economic  thought  in  Canada;  and  this 
influence  can  be  traced  almost  from  the  time  the 
loyalists  settled  in  Quebec.  These  newcomers  of 
1 778-1 784,  joined  as  they  soon  were  by  many 
loyalists  who  had  first  emigrated  to  New  Bruns- 
wick, soon  began  to  demand  such  British  institu- 
tions as  they  had  been  accustomed  to  in  the 
American  colonies. 

In  particular  they  desired  (i)  an  elected  legis- 
lative assembly;  (2)  trial  by  jury  in  civil  cases; 
and  (3)  the  division  of  Quebec  into  two  provinces, 
an  English  and  a  French  province.     The  larger 

[66] 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1783  TO   1840 

number  of  United  Empire  Loyalists  had  settled 
west  of  the  Ottawa  River,  in  what  is  today  the 
province  of  Ontario,  and  they  were  desirous  that 
this  should  be  an  English  province. 

The  first  colonial  constitution  of  the  new  era   First 
in    British   colonial   history  —  the   era   of  1783-   *^°^°^^*^ 

r         XT  r»  '    X        constitu- 

1914  —  was   that   of   1784   for   New   Brunswick,    tions 
The  second  constitution,  much  more  elaborate,    °^  *^® 

new  era 

was  that  embodied  in  the  Quebec  act  of  1791. 
This  aci  created  the  political  divisions  of  Upper 
and  Lower  Canada,  which  were  continued  under 
these  names  until  the  reunion  of  the  two  prov- 
inces in  1840.^ 

The  constitutions  of  these  provinces  were 
similar.  Each  provided  for  (i)  a  governor  and 
executive  council;  (2)  a  nominated  legislative 
council;  and  (3)  a  popularly  elected  legislative 
assembly. 

The  qualifications  for  electors  of  the  legislative    QuaUfi- 
assembly,  it  was  provided   by  the  act  of  1791,    ^^^°^^ 
were  to  be  the  same  as  those  in  England  at  that   electors 
time   for  electors   of  knights   of  the   shire.     In 
counties  of  Lower  and  Upper  Canada,  the  elect- 
ors were   the  owners  of  land  of  a    rental  value 
of  forty  shillings  a  year.    There  was  at  that  time 
no  uniformity  in  England  as  regarded  the  quali- 
fications  of  parliamentary   electors   in   the   bor- 
oughs;   but  it  was  provided  that  electors  in  the 
three  towns  of  Lower  Canada,  and  the  two  of 

1  Cf.  Riddell,  "Constitution  of  Canada,"  Note  XVI, 
45- 

C67] 


EVOLUTION  OF   THE    DOMINION  OF   CANADA 


No 

exclusion 
of  Roman 
Catholics 


Wages 
for 

members 
of  the 
legis- 
latures 


No 

property 
qualifi- 
cations 
for 
members 


Upper  Canada,  should  be  the  owners  .of  houses 
of  a  rental  value  of  five  pounds,  or  occupiers  of 
houses  of  which  the  rent  was  not  less  than  ten 
pounds  a  year. 

In  England  and  Scotland  in  1791,  and  until 
1829,  the  oath  against  transubstantiation  ex- 
cluded Roman  Catholics  from  the  exercise  of  the 
electoral  franchise,  and  also  from  parliament.  No 
such  oath  was  imposed  by  the  constitution  of 
1 791  on  electors  in  Upper  and  Lower  Canada, 
or  on  members  of  the  legislature. 

Wages  had  not  been  paid  to  members  of  the 
house  of  commons  in  England  since  the  seven- 
teenth century,  and  the  system  of  paying  the 
traveling  expenses  of  members  to  and  from 
parliament  had  been  in  desuetude  for  a  much 
longer  time.  In  Upper  and  Lower  Canada  wages 
and  traveling  expenses  were  for  many  years  a 
charge  on  the  electorates. 

Property  qualifications  were  necessary  for 
members  of  the  house  of  commons  at  West- 
minster from  1710  to  1858.^  There  was  no 
provision  in  the  Quebec  act  for  property  quali- 
fications for  members  of  the  legislative  assembly; 
nor  was  there  any  provision  that  members  should 
be  resident  in  the  constituencies  from  which  they 
were  elected. 

Two  departures  in  colonial  constitutions  char- 
acterized Pitt's  Quebec  act  of  1791.     The  first 

^  Porritt,  "The  Unreformed  House  of  Commons,"  I,  168- 
178. 

[68] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Pitt's  was  an  attempt,  long  persisted  in,  to  establish  a 

attempt  connection   between   state   and   church,   such   as 

estabUsh  exists  in  England  —  to  establish  the  Church  of 

E^eU  h  England   as  a  state-supported  church  in  Lower 

church  in  and  Upper  Canada.    The  second  was  an  attempt, 

Canada  |^^^  nothing  more  than  an  attempt,  to  create  a 

and  to  ^      .  ^  '        .  , 

create  an   nereditary    aristocracy    and    a    governmg    class 
aristoc-      similar  to  that  which  then  existed  and  still  exists 

m  England. 
Clergy  By  the  thirty-sixth  section  of  the  act  of  1791, 

reserves  provision  was  made  for  reserving  out  of  all 
grants  of  public  lands  an  allotment  for  the  sup- 
port of  a  Protestant  clergy.  The  allotment  was 
to  be  equal  in  value  to  the  seventh  part  of  the 
lands  granted.  These  allotments  were  known  as 
the  "clergy  reserves."  The  rents  and  profits 
from  them  were  to  be  applicable  solely  to  the 
maintenance  and  support  of  a  Protestant  clergy. 
Provision  was  also  made  for  the  endowment  of 
rectories  out  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  public 
lands. 
Sixty  In  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  these 

years  of  provisions  in  the  act  of  1791  were  prolific  of 
strife  bitter  political  and  sectarian  strife  in  Upper 
Canada.  The  setting  aside  of  the  clergy  lands 
in  the  settlement  of  townships  caused  great  hard- 
ship to  pioneer  homesteaders.  It  retarded  the 
development  of  Upper  Canada.  It  divided  the 
inhabitants  both  in  town  and  country  into  two 
hostile  camps.  It  was  one  of  the  contributing 
causes  of  the  rebellion  of  1837.    It  entailed  much 

[70] 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1783  TO   1840 

trouble  for  the  legislatures  of  Upper  Canada, 
and  of  the  United  Provinces,  and  also  for  the 
colonial  office  and  parliament  at  Westminster. 
The  clergy  reserves  were  persistently  disturbing 
issues  in  Canadian  politics  until  Pitt's  attempt 
of  1791  was  finally  abandoned  in  1854.^ 

From  every  point  of  view  —  economic,  social,    a  mis- 
and  political  —  Pitt's  attempt  to  create  an  estab-   j°^® 
lished  church  was  unfortunate.    It  was  especially   Episcopal 
unfortunate  for  the  Episcopal  church  in  Canada,    ^^'^^ 
which  did  not  begin  to  make  the  appeal,  of  which    Canada 
it    is    eminently    capable,    until    the    great    im- 
migration from  England  of  1901-1914.     By  that 
time  the  disturbing  controversies  of  1 820-1 854 
were  forgotten,  and  the  clergy  reserves  were  a 
memory    with    only    the    elder    generation    of 
Canadians.2 

Pitt's  plan  for  an  aristocracy  and  a  governing   pitt's 
class  was  that  the  dignity  of  membership  of  the   ***«™p* 
legislative  councils  was  to  be  coupled  with  every   a  gov- 
title  of  honor  conferred  in  Canada  by  the  crown. ^   ®™^^ 
Pitt  knew  little  of  England  outside  London.    He 
knew  nothing  of  social  conditions  in  a  new  coun- 

1  Cf.  Stimson,  "  History  of  the  Separation  of  Church  and 
State  in  Canada,"  27,  28. 

*  Cf.  "The  Days  of  the  Glebe,"  Globry  Toronto,  November 
23,  1911. 

'  "There  was  a  very  curious  provision  in  the  act  of  1791, 
which  might  have  proved  mischievous.  This  right  was  never 
exercised,  and  the  Canadas  fortunately  escaped  an  heredi- 
tary second  house  of  parUament."  —  Riddell,  "  Constitution 
of  Canada,"  Note  XVII,  46. 

C71] 


class 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Family 
compacts 
of  1820- 
1840 


Present- 
day  gov- 
erning 
class 
of  the 
Dominion 


try  like  Canada^  where  there  were  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  square  miles  of  unoccupied  land  and 
consequently  no  renters  and  no  rural  laborers 
to  support  an  aristocracy.^ 

Canada  since  the  American  revolution  was 
never  long  without  a  governing  class.  It  first 
emerged  from  the  United  Empire  Loyalists  and 
the  first  generation  of  their  descendants.  These 
men  formed  oligarchies  known  at  Toronto, 
Quebec,  Halifax,  and  Fredericton,  from  1820 
to  1840,  as  the  "Family  Compacts."  ^ 

Since  Confederation,  and  especially  since  1879, 
the  governing  class  of  the  Dominion  has  been 
composed  of  the  bankers,  the  railway  magnates, 
and  the  manufacturers  who  have  their  head- 
quarters in  Toronto  and  Montreal.  Pitt's  plan 
of  1 79 1  for  an  aristocracy  was  no  factor  in  the 
creation  of  either  the  governing  class  of  1820- 
1840  or  in  that  of  1 879-1914. 

From  as  early  as  1829  knighthoods  were  some- 
times bestowed  on  judges  of  the  higher  courts. 


*  "The  history  of  the  thirteen  colonies  was  full  of  evi- 
dence to  show  that  an  executive  and  an  upper  house  inde- 
pendent of  popular  control  in  colonial  constitutions  were 
fruitful  sources  of  conflict,  disorder,  and  even  of  the  paraly- 
sis of  government.  There  was  evidence  also  to  show  the 
impossibility  of  a  colonial  hereditary  nobility."  —  George 
Burton  Adams,  "The  Influence  of  the  American  Revolution 
on  England's  Government  of  her  Colonies."  Report  of 
American  Historical  Association,  1896,  Vol.  I,  375-389. 

2  Cf.  Boyd,  "  Sir  George  Etienne  Cartier,"  7. 

'  Cf.  Egerton,  Vol.  V,  pt.  ii,  158-164. 

[72] 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1783  TO   1840 

The  title  of  knight  lapses  with  the  death  of  its   Heredi- 
holder.    Only  baronetcies  and  peerages  are  he-   ^ 
reditary;  and  the  Quebec  act  of  1791  had  been  on    Canada 
the  statute  books  for  over  sixty  years,  and  had 
been    superseded    by    the    constitutional    legisla- 
tion of  1840,  before  there  were  in  Canada  men 
sufficiently  wealthy  to  assume  the  family,  social, 
and    financial    responsibilities    of    a    hereditary 
title.i 

It  was  1854  before  a  baronetcy  was  conferred 
on  a  Canadian.  It  was  1891  before  a  Canadian 
received  a  peerage.^  Long  before  the  first  baron- 
etcy was  conferred  on  a  Canadian,  Pitt's  plan 
of  1 79 1  had  been  forgotten;  and  today  member- 
ship of  the  nominated  senate  at  Ottawa,  and  of 

^  Only  three  peerages  were  bestowed  on  native-born 
Canadians  between  1783  and  19 17.  Commenting  on  a  peer- 
age bestowed  on  a  Montreal  newspaper  proprietor  in  Febru- 
ary, 1917,  N.  W.  Rowell,  K.  C,  leader  of  the  Liberal  party 
in  the  province  of  Ontario,  said:  "I  venture  to  think  that  in 
the  free  democracy  of  Canada  we  are  not  improving  condi- 
tions by  importing  hereditary  titles,  passing  from  father  to 
son.  I  hope  it  may  be  the  last.  I  think  when  we  are  fighting 
the  battle  of  democracy  the  world  over  the  tendency  will  be 
in  the  Old  Country  to  bring  themselves  into  hatmony  with 
our  spirit  of  democracy  rather  than  for  us  transplanting  part 
of  the  old  feudal  system  into  Canada."  —  Gazettey  Montreal, 
February  16,  1917. 

2  Sir  John  Beverley  Robinson,  chief  justice  of  Upper 
Canada,  1829-1863,  was  the  first  Canadian  to  receive  a  baron- 
etcy. The  first  Canadian  peer  was  a  woman.  Baroness  Mac- 
donald  of  EarnsclifFe,  widow  of  Sir  John  A.  Macdonald,  who 
at  the  time  of  his  death  in  1891  was  premier  of  the  Dominion. 

[73] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

the  nominated  legislative  councils  of  Quebec 
and  Nova  Scotia  —  the  only  provinces  in  which 
legislative  councils  or  upper  houses  survive  — 
is  not  affected  by  baronetcies  or  peerages  con- 
ferred on  Canadians. 
Five  The  Quebec  act  of  1791,  by  the  division  of 

N^rth*  Quebec  into  Lower  and  Upper  Canada,  increased 
American  the  number  of  British  North  American  prov- 
^I°n^?^    inces  to  five.^     It  remained  at  this  number  until 

of  1791- 

1861  1 85 1,  when  British  Columbia  was  organized  as 

a  province. 
PoUticai         In  the  period  from  the  incoming  of  the  United 
develop-     Empire  Loyalists  to  Confederation,  Nova  Scotia 
Nova         and  New  Brunswick  each  made  some  contribu- 
Scotia        |.Jqj^   ^q   ^l^g   constitutional   development   of  the 

and  New     j^        .    .  y  •      tt  /^  i  i 

Bruns-  Dominion.  In  each,  as  in  Upper  Canada,  there 
was  a  struggle,  finally  successful,  against  efforts 
to  establish  and  maintain  a  privileged  position 
for  the  church  of  England.^  It  was,  moreover, 
the  conference  in  Charlottetown,  organized  by  the 
Maritime  Provinces  in  1864  for  the  purpose  of 
establishing  a  legislative  union  of  these  three 
provinces,  that  brought  Confederation  of  all 
the  British  North  American  provinces  within  the 
realm  of  practical  politics  in  Canada  and  at 
Westminster. 

*  Cape  Breton  was  organized  as  a  separate  province  in 
1784.  It  was  reunited  with  Nova  Scotia  in  1820.  As  an 
island  province  it  had  no  particular  part  in  the  constitutional 
history  of  Canada. 

*  Cf.  Egerton,  Vol.  V,  pt.  ii,  156-159. 

[74] 


wick 


EVOLUTION   FROM   1783  TO   1840 

Joseph  Howe,  the  editor  of  the  Nova  Scotiauy   struggie 
of  Halifax,  in  1835,  was  the  defendant  in  a  crimi-  ^'  * 
nal  proceeding  for  Hbel;    and    by  his    successful   press 
defense  he  achieved  a  victory  which  established 
freedom  of  the  press  in  Nova  Scotia.     In  New 
Brunswick  in  1844,  the  printers  of  the  Loyalist, 
Doak  and  Hill,   fought  to  a  successful  issue  in 
the  law  courts  the  claim  of  the  legislature   at 
Fredericton  to  interfere  with  the  liberty  of  the 
press,  and  thereby  rendered  a  service  to  all  the 
British   North   American   provinces   as   great   as 
that  rendered  by  the  printers  of  the  Public  Ad- 
vertiser, in  England,  in  their  memorable  contest 
with  the  house  of  commons  in   1772,  over  the 
reporting  of  the  debates.^ 

British    Columbia,    in    the    years    from    1851,    Political 
defeated    an    attempt    to    establish    state-aided    *<^*^®^®- 
sectarian  education,  and  also  an  attempt  to  make   of  upper 
the  legislature   at  Victoria   bilingual.     But  gen-   ^ 
erally  speaking  the  constitutional  advances  from    Canada 
1791    to    Confederation,    which    beneficently    af-   ^J^^^ 
fected  all  the  British  colonies  which  are  now  of   confed- 
the    dominions,    were    achieved    in    Lower    and    ®"^**°° 
Upper  Canada. 

The  first  legislature  of  Upper  Canada  assem-   Early 
bled    at   Niagara    in    September,    1792;     but    in   !®?^" 
1794  York,  now  known  as  Toronto,  became  the 
capital.     Quebec  continued  to  be  capital  of  the 
French  province.    The  first  legislature  assembled 

*  Porritt,  "A  Century  and  a  Half  of  English  Journalism  in 
Canada,"  125-126,  133-134. 

[75] 


lative 
councils 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

there  in  December,  1792.  The  governor-general 
was  estabhshed  in  the  citadel  at  Quebec.  At 
Toronto  there  was  a  lieutenant-governor.  Both 
these  officials  were  appointed  by  the  colonial 
office.  Each  new  governor  came  out  with  de- 
tailed instructions,  prepared  by  the  colonial  office, 
as  to  the  policy  which  he  was  to  follow. 
Legis-  At   each   capital   the   governor-general   or   the 

lieutenant-governor  chose  the  executive  council; 
nominated  the  members  of  the  legislative  coun- 
cil; and  had  at  his  disposition  all  political  pat- 
ronage.^ At  Quebec  the  legislative  council, 
according  to  the  terms  of  the  constitution,  was 
to  consist  of  not  less  than  fifteen  members.  In 
Upper  Canada  it  was  to  consist  of  not  less  than 
seven  members.  The  legislature  was  to  be  called 
together  once  in  every  twelve  months.  The  dura- 
tion of  the  elected  legislative  assembly  could 
not  exceed  four  years. 

III.    The  Legislatures  of  1792-18^7 

Proce-  The  earliest  legislatures  established  in  Canada, 

dure  and    ^j^^^  ^^  HaHfax  in  1758  and  that  at  Fredericton 

usages         ,  . 

of  West-     in  1784,  were  organized  for  business  as  nearly  as 

°^^*®'      possible   on   the   model   of  parliament   at  West- 

Ushedin     minster.     The  throne  was  placed  in  the  cham- 

Canada      ^^^   ^f  ^^xt   legislative    council.     The    presiding 

officer  of  the  legislative  council,  as  in  the  house 

of  lords,  was  appointed  by  the  government.    All 

1  Cf.  Rules  and  Regulations  for  Her  Majesty's  Colonial 

Service,  19. 

[76] 


EVOLUTION  FROM    1783  TO   1840 

communications  of  the  council  with  the  assembly 
were  carried,  with  the  old  world  formalities, 
either  by  a  master  in  chancery,  or  by  black 
rod,  whose  official  costume  was  patterned  to  the 
last  detail  on  that  of  black  rod  at  Westminster. 

In  the  legislative  assemblies,  at  the  meeting  The 
of  a  new  legislature,  the  first  business  was  the  ®p®^®' 
election  of  speaker.  The  procedure  at  this  elec- 
tion was  similar  to  that  at  the  first  meeting  of  a 
house  of  commons.  The  clerk  of  the  house  and 
the  sergeant-at-arms  were  appointed  by  the 
government. 

The    formalities    attending   the   opening   of   a   Speech 
session  were  the  same  as  at  Westminster.     The   Jf**™  ^^ 

throne 
Speech  was  read  from  the  throne  by  the  governor, 

with    the    speaker,    the    sergeant-at-arms,    and 

members  of  the  assembly  in  attendance  at  the 

bar  of  the  council  chamber.     Back  in  their  own 

chamber,    for   the    consideration    of  the    speech 

from  the  throne,  the  first  proceeding  after  the 

speech  had  been  read  by  the  speaker  was  to  give 

a  first  reading,  pro  forma,  to  a  bill,  in  order  that 

the   assembly  might   assert   its   independence  of 

the  crown,  and  exercise  its  right  to  attend  to  its 

own   business   before  concerning  itself  with   the 

business  to  which  the  sovereign  had  directed  its 

attention. 

The  rules  of  debate  and  procedure  on  bills  —   Proce- 

introduction    and   first  reading,    second    reading,    J^ 

committee  stage,   and   third   reading  —  were   all 

as  at  Westminster. 

[77] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF  CANADA 

Epoch-  The  legislature  of  Upper  Canada  held  its  first 

"^'^^      session  in  1792,  at  Niagara,  in  a  log  cabin  with 

measures  i  y    ^  ,  °  '    . 

of  the        only  one  door  and  two  windows.^     Only  eight 
f'i*  members   of  the   assembly  were   in   attendance. 

legls-  -' 

lature  of     But  there  was  a  speech  from  the  throne  ^  and 
Upper        ^i^g  formalities  and  procedure  were  as  at  West- 

Canaaa  .  .  /  ... 

minster.     This    parliament   m   miniature,   more- 
over, earned  distinction  in  British  colonial  history 
by  two  of  its  proceedings. 
An  It  declared  British  law  with  regard  to  property 

^""  and  civil  rights  to  be  in  force  in  Upper  Canada; 

law  and  it  passed  an  act  ^  forbidding  slavery  in  the 

province  —  another  early  instance  of  the  influ- 
ence of  the  United  States,  direct  and  indirect,  on 
the  political,  economic,  and  social  development 
of  Canada.  "It  has  the  honor,"  writes  one  of 
the  most  sympathetic  of  its  historians,  "of  being 
the  first  assembly  in  the  British  Empire  to  for- 
bid the  terrible  wrong  of  slavery."  * 

An  anti-slavery  law  was  necessary  if  slavery 
were  not  to  be  established  in  Upper  Canada;  for 
at  Westminster,  in  1790,  in  the  session  immedi- 
ately preceding  that  in  which  the  second  Quebec 
act  was  passed,  a  remarkable  amendment^  had 

1  Cf.  Weaver,  "A  Canadian  History,"  145. 

*  John  Graves  Simcoe,  Lieutenant-Governor,  in  his  speech 
from  the  throne,  at  the  closing  of  the  session  of  1792,  assured 
the  legislature  that  the  constitution  of  the  Province  of  Upper 
Canada  was  "the  very  image  and  transcript  of  that  of  Great 
Britain."  —  Riddell,  "Constitution  of  Canada,"  Note  XVIII, 

47. 

^  33  Geo.  Ill,  c.  7.   *  Weaver,  146.  *  30  George  III,  c.  27. 

[78] 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1783  TO   1840 


been  made  to  the  old  navigation  code  of  Great 
Brita^in.  It  was  an  amendment  which  was  re- 
garded as  a  concession  to  the  colonies  in  America. 
By  virtue  of  it  immigrants  arriving  in  any  of 
the  British  North  American  provinces  were  per- 
mitted to  import  their  "negroes,  household 
furniture,  utensils  of  husbandry,  and  clothing" 
duty  free. 

The  legislature  which  met  for  the  first  time 
at  Quebec,  in  December,  1792,  was  also  organized 
for  business  after  the  model  of  parliament  at 
Westminster;  and  in  no  province  of  the  Dominion 
have  the  old-world  formalities  and  ceremonial 
usages  of  parliament  been  more  tenaciously  ad- 
hered to  than  in  Quebec.  The  French-Canadian 
has  a  natural  love  for  the  pageantry  of  state. 

The  urban  and  rural  population  of  the  French 
province  in  1792  was  much  larger  than  that  of 
Upper  Canada.  The  cities  —  Quebec,  Three 
Rivers,  and  Montreal  —  had  an  aggregate  repre- 
sentation of  ten  members  in  the  assembly.  There 
was  also  a  member  for  the  town  of  Sorel. 

The  other  members  were  knights  of  the  shire, 
usually  two  from  each  of  the  counties  into  which 
Lower  Canada  was  divided.  These  members 
were  girt  with  sword  at  the  time  the  sheriff  de- 
clared their  election,  as  was  the  custom  in  Eng- 
land until  after  1885,  when  English  counties  lost 
their  ancient  parliamentary  identity  by  partition 
into  modern  electoral  divisions. 

The  total  number  of  members  of  the  Quebec 

[79] 


French- 
Cana- 
dians 
and  the 
pagean- 
try of 
state 


Knights 
of  the 
shire 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

assembly  in  1792  was  fifty.  Sixteen  were  of 
British  origin.  This  proportion  was  never  ex- 
ceeded in  the  forty-five  years  from  1792  to  the 
rebellion  in  1837,  which  for  thirty  years  made 
an  end  to  a  separate  legislature  in  Quebec. 
French  The   elective  legislative   assembly  at   Quebec, 

language    ^^    -^^   gj.g^    session    in    1792,    made   history   by 
adopting  the  rule  that  the  French  and  English 
languages  should  stand  on  a  footing  of  complete 
equality  in  debate  and  in  the  introduction  of  bills. 
Today  both  languages   are  used  in  the  Quebec 
j    legislature,  which  was  reestablished  at  Confedera- 
'    tion  in  1867.      Both  are  also  used  in  parliament 
at  Ottawa,  in  debate,  in  the  printing  of  bills  and 
acts,  and  in  government  documents.     This  usage 
at  Quebec  and  Ottawa  can  be  traced  back  to  the 
rule  adopted  by  the  legislative  assembly  in  1792. 
Restricted      The  powers  of  the  assembly,  both  at  Quebec 
^![®"      and  at  Toronto,  were  restricted.    It  had  no  power 

ofthe  .    '.  M       r  L  •        • 

legis-        over  appropriations  until  after  the  constitution 
^**^®         of  1702  was  amended  in   183 1.     In  these  fort^ 

assem-  '  ^ 

bues  years,  the  assembly  had  no  such  power  over 
appropriations  as  was  exercised  by  the  house  of 
commons.  Vote  as  it  might,  the  assembly,  at  no 
time  between  1792  and  1837,  could  influence  the 
policy  of  the  executive,  if  the  executive  was 
determined  to  pay  no  heed  to  the  will  of  the 
majority  of  the  assembly.  Act  as  it  would,  the 
assembly  could  not  dislodge  the  executive. 

The  assembly,  when  it  initiated  legislation,  was 
always  confronted  by  two  powers  at  Quebec  that 
[80] 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1783  TO   1840 

could  override  it,  and  in  practice  veto  any  bills   Three 
that  it  might  pass.    These  were  (i)  the  legislative    °^®^ 
council,  whose  members  had  no  constituents  to   powers 
whom  they  were  responsible,  only  the  governor 
who  had  appointed  them  having  any  power  to  call 
them  to  account;   and  (2)  the  governor,  who  had 
power  to  accept  or  reserve  a  bill  which  had  passed 
both  houses  of  the  legislature,  to  reserve  involv- 
ing the  transmission  of  the  bill  to  London  for 
approval  by  the  colonial  office.     Moreover,  even 
after  a  bill  had  run  the  gantlet  of  the  assembly 
and  the  council,  and  after  it  had  been  accepted 
by  the  governor,  it  could  be  vetoed  in  London 
at  any  time  within  two  years. 

These  were  the  days  of  the  old   commercial    oid 
policy  of  the  British  Empire.    England  was  under   ^™gj^ 
a  protectionist  system.    The  old  navigation  code,   poUcy 
which  had  its  beginnings  in  the  days  of  the  Crom-   ^^^^ 
wellian  protectorate,  was  in  force  until  1847;  and   Britain 
the  aim  of  the  commercial  system  was  to  build    g^JJ*^ 
up  British  trade  with  little  regard  to  any  develop-   force 
ing  manufacturing  industries  in  the  colonies.  None 
of  the  North  American  provinces  was  at  liberty  to 
frame  its  own  fiscal  system.     No  British  colony 
enjoyed   this  freedom  without   restriction   until 
1846.    None  exercised  it  to  the  full  until  1858. 

Lower  and  Upper  Canada  were  consequently 
not  permitted  to  impose  other  than  revenue 
duties  on  manufactures  from  Great  Britain.  All 
imports  from  Great  Britain  must  come  into  the 
provinces  in  British  vessels;  all  colonial  exports 

[81] 


start 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

to  Great  Britain  had  also  to  be  carried  in  ves- 
sels on  the  British  registry;  and  there  were  no 
free  ports  until  1822. 

IV.    The  Dreary  Period  of  the  New  Era  in 
British  Colonial  History 

Political  It  cannot  be  affirmed  that  the  governments 
fj'^p'  established  at  Toronto  and  Quebec  in  1 792-1 793 
almost  worked  well.  There  was' jobbery  and  corruption 
from  the  fj-Qm  as  early  as  1795  —  corruption  in  the  collec- 
tion of  the  revenue;  and  jobbery,  with  the  con- 
nivance of  the  executive  council  at  Quebec,  in 
the  allotment  of  public  lands  in  Lower  Canada.^ 
Conditions  became  worse  in  the  first  decade  of 
the  nineteenth  century;  ^  and  between  1812  and 
1820  there  began  the  most  dreary  period  of  the 
new  era  of  British  colonial  history  —  the  era 
from  1783  to  1914. 

The  dreary  period  lasted  from  181 2  to   1840; 
and,  like  the  Quebec  act  of  1791,  and  the  ham- 
strung legislative  assemblies  created  by  this  act,^ 
1  Cf.  Egerton,  Vol.  V,  pt.  ii,  61-64.-  2  cf.  Boyd,  34. 

*  "It  is  difficult  to  conceive  what  could  have  been  their 
theory  of  government,  who  imagined  that  in  any  colony  of 
England  a  body  invested  with  the  name  and  character  of  a 
representative  assembly  could  be  deprived  of  any  of  those 
powers  which  in  the  opinion  of  Englishmen  are  inherent  in 
a  popular  legislature."  —  "Lord  Durham's  Report  on  the 
Affairs  of  British  North  America."  Lucas,  Vol.  II,  y6.  "  While 
the  French-Canadians  had  been  given  representative  parlia- 
mentary institutions,  those  institutions  had  been  practically 
rendered  inoperative.  The  people  possessed  the  shadow  with- 
out the  substance  of  parliamentary  government."  —  Boyd,  35. 

[82] 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1783  TO   1840 

it  furnished  abundant  proof  that  British  states-   Briush 
men  had  not   learned  the   lesson  of  1 776-1 78<?,    s*^*«^ 

.   '  '  I     J^     men    fail 

and  were  not  disposed  to  learn  it  until  forced  to   to  learn 
do  so  by  the  rebellions  of  1837.     Causes  for  the   J^® 
popular  discontent  existed  in  London  as  well  as  at    1776- 
Toronto  and  Quebec;    for  some  petitions  to  the    "®^ 
colonial  office  from  Canada  were  ignored;    others 
were  long  in  bringing  any  results;    and  when  con- 
cessions were  made  to  the  reformers  of  Upper  and 
Lower  Canada  they  were  grudging  and  inadequate. 

At  Quebec   power   under   the   constitution   of   Govem- 
179 1,  exercised  through  the  executive  and  legis-   ^*^j^^* 
lative   councils,   was   monopolized    by   the   com-   Canada 
mercial  classes  of  the  city  and  of  Montreal.    The 
men  of  the  mercantile  interests,  most  of  them 
newcomers  from  Britain,  were  at  this  time  the 
governing  class  of  Lower  Canada;    and  between 
the  British  and  the  French-Canadians  there  was 
keen  and  politically  disturbing  antagonism. 

Political   power   at  Toronto,   exercised,    as   at   FamUy 
Quebec,    through    the    executive   and    legislative   ^°^p*<^* 
councils,  usually  with  the  sanction  of  the  lieu-   Upper 
tenant-governor,  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Tories    ^^^^^ 
of  the  Family  Compact.     Here  again  American 
example  and  tradition  influenced  Canadian  politi- 
cal conditions.    At  this  time  —  1820-1837  —  this 
American  influence  was  adverse  to  popular  gov- 
ernment in  Upper  Canada;    though  in  the  long 
run,  in  the  years  from   1820  to   1837,  it  made 
indirectly  for  constitutional  advance  and  the  prog- 
ress of  democracy  in  Canada. 

[83] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Bourbon 
Toryism 
of  Upper 
Canada 


Tradi-  The  Tories  of  this  period  were  mostly  United 

HoMof  Empire  Loyalists,  or  descendants  of  loyalists, 
American  who,  influenced  by  experiences  in  the  American 
revolution  revolution,  or  by  family  tradition  of  these  ex- 
periences, and  by  ill-feeling  engendered  by  the 
invasion  of  Upper  Canada  by  American  troops 
during  the  war  of  1812,  cherished  an  assertive 
and  aggressive  hatred  of  democracy  or  republi- 
canism in  any  shape  or  form. 

The  dominant  political  cliques  in  Upper  Canada 
at  this  time  developed  a  cult  of  Toryism  which 
has  never  been  matched  in  any  other  part  of  the 
English-speaking  world/  It  was  more  Tory  even 
than  the  American  Toryism  of  1776-1783.  It 
was  even  more  Bourbon  and  unyielding  than  the 
Toryism  of  England  that  was  developed  by  the 
wars  with  France  of  1793-18 15;  for  it  was  in- 
flamed by  a  struggle  to  hold  on  to  a  monopoly 
of  all  political  opportunities,  and  by  the  strife 
attending  a  finally  unsuccessful  endeavor  to  es- 
tablish a  privileged  political  position  for  one 
division  of  the  Christian  church. 

Governors  from  1792  to  1837  were  notoriously 
partisan.  Nearly  all  of  them  were,  or  had  been, 
army  officers.  They  were  imbued  with  the  Eng- 
lish Toryism  of  the  period.    A  new  governor,  as 


Partisan 
governors 


*"A  junto  of  oligarchs,  who,  however  odious  and  tyran- 
nical they  might  become,  could  not  be  punished  or  brought 
to  account  for  their  conduct." — John  Charles  Dent,  "The 
Last  Forty  Years:  Canada  Since  the  Union  of  1841,"  Vol. 
I,  p.  19. 

[84] 


EVOLUTION   FROM    1783    TO    1840 

soon  as  he  arrived,  fell  into  the  arms  of  the  little 
group  of  officials  in  control,  and  could  hardly 
escape  the  influence  of  the  ruling  clique.  From 
the  point  of  view  of  the  elected  legislative  assem- 
bly, the  governor  was  an  opponent  from  the  day 
he  arrived  at  Quebec  or  Toronto.  Governors 
openly  interfered  in  elections,  and  always  against 
the  popular  or  democratic  group  in  the  legislative 
assembly. 

The  last  governor  of  Upper  Canada  before  the   Pork- 
rebellion  of  1837  — -  Francis  Bond  Head  —  in  1836   ?*"®^ 
.  .  *^      appro- 

committed  the  province,  which  had  then  a  popu-    priations 

lation  of  only  350,000,  to  an  expenditure  of  four 
million  dollars  on  roads,  bridges,  and  wharfs, 
chiefly  to  carry  a  general  election.  Head  thereby 
began  a  practice  which  has  continued  and  flour- 
ished up  to  the  present  day;  for  in  the  house  of 
commons  at  Ottawa  annual  pork-barrel  appro- 
priations for  post  offices,  customs  houses,  armo- 
ries, wharfs,  and  dredging,  with  the  bribery  of 
constituencies  and  the  local  jobbery  inherent  in 
these  appropiations,  are  as  notorious  as  they  are 
in  congress  at  Washington. 

Offices  and  patronage  at  Quebec  and  Toronto   Patron- 
were  the  monopoly  of  the  Family  Compact  groups,    ^f®^^ 
Plural  office  holders  were  numerous.    The  legis-   office 
lative  assemblies  were  crowded  with  office  holders.   ^°^**®" 
Protestant  and  Roman  Catholic  bishops  were  of 
the  legislative  councils;  and  so  were  judges. 

Bills   originating  in   the   legislative   assemblies 
were    rejected    mechanically    and    wholesale    by 


among 
friends?" 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

"What's  the  legislative  councils.  If  a  member  of  the 
wnstitu-  assembly  was  persona  non  grata  to  the  ruling 
Hon  clique,  he  was  ejected  without  regard  to  his  indi- 

vidual rights  or  the  rights  of  the  constituency 
by  which  he  had  been  elected.  If  the  constit- 
uency ventured  to  petition  for  redress  it  was 
publicly  snubbed  by  the  governor,  whose  atti- 
tude can  best  be  expressed  in  the  words  of  an 
American  boss,  who  exclaimed.  "What's  the 
constitution  among  friends?" 

V.   Crown  Colony  Rule  at  Its  Worst 

Political         The  questions   at  issue  in  the  decade  which 
ofm'o-      preceded    the    rebellions    of   1837    were    (i)  the 
1837          clergy    reserves;     (2)  responsible   government  — 
the  demand  for  an  executive  dependent  upon  a 
majority  in  the  assembly,  as  was  the  constitu- 
tional usage  in  England;    (3)  full  control  by  the 
assembly     over     taxation     and     appropriations; 
(4)  an  elected  instead  of  a  nominated  legislative 
council;  (5)  the  exclusion  of  judges  from  the  legis- 
lature;   (6)  the  system  under  which  judges  held 
office  at  the  will  of  the  government;   and  (7)  the 
abolition  of  the  system  of  plural  office  holding. 
Govern-         Cartier,     the     best-equipped     statesman     the 
Sit  were   ^^^ench  ptovince  ever  gave  to  the  Dominion,  was, 
oUgarchic   in   his  youth,   associated  with  Papineau  in  the 
TO^pt      rebellion  in  Quebec.     He  always  insisted  that  it 
was  a  rebellion,  not  against  British  authority,  or 
against  the  British  connection,  but  against  the 
vicious  system  of  government  which  existed  in 
[86] 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1783  TO   1840 

Lower  and  Upper  Canada  for  a  generation  before 
1837.^  It  was  a  rebellion  against  governments  at 
Quebec  and  Toronto  that  were  Bourbon  in  out- 
look, oligarchic,  and  corrupt. 

"Narrow-minded  and  tyrannical,"  is  Eger- 
ton*s  characterization  of  the  government  at 
Toronto.2  These  governments  bore  down  ruth- 
lessly on  all  attempts  at  reform  from  outside;  and 
the  colonial  office  in  London  made  no  attempt 
either  to  check  or  to  reform  them. 

From  the  American  revolution  until  responsible   Crown 

government    was    conceded    to    all    the    British    ^°j°°y 

North  American  provinces  in  the  forties  of  the   the 

nineteenth  century,  Quebec  and  Ontario,  Nova   ^^^^^^ 

Scotia,    New    Brunswick,    and    Prince    Edward    enceto 

Island  were  under  what  would  be  described  to-   °'®*"^®* 

posses- 
day  as  crown  colony  rule;   and  from  1820  to  1837   sions 

crown  colony  government  was  seen  at  its  worst 
in  Toronto  and  Quebec.^ 

It  was  crown  colony  rule  of  the  era  of  indif- 
ference to  colonial  expansion,  of  the  days  when 
Wellington  *  was  willing  to  turn  over  Ceylon  to 
the  East  India  Company;  when  George  Corne- 
wall  Lewis  ^  confessed  that  he  was  unable  to  see 
what  possible  advantage  England  derived  from 
the  possession  of  Canada;   and  Peel  ^  was  quite 

*  Cf.  Boyd,  66.  2  Egerton,  Vol.  V,  pt.  ii,  127. 

'  Cf.  Egerton,  Vol.  V,  pt.  ii,  68-78,  1 16-123,  124-132; 
Lucas,  "  Lord  Durham's  Report,"  Vol.  I,  33-72;  Vol.  II,  7- 
185;   Boyd,  27-44. 

*  1828.  6 1837.  «  1841. 

C87] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

willing  to  see  Canada  separate  from  the  British 
Empire. 
New  era  It  was,  however,  an  era  of  crown  colony  rule 
of  crown  ^j^^^  j^^^j  nothing  but  the  name  in  common  with 
rule  the  new  and  beneficent  era  of  crown  colony 
government  that  began  in  the  first  decade  of 
Queen  Victoria's  reign.  The  fundamentals  of 
this  modern  crown  colony  rule  are  (i)  that  the 
principle  of  government  must  be  determined  by 
parliament  at  Westminster,  as  interpreter  of  the 
spirit  of  the  British  constitution;  (2)  policy  de- 
termined by  the  colonial  office,  subject  to  the 
control  of  parliament;  and  (3)  practice  deter- 
mined by  the  governor,  sent  out  from  London, 
subject  to  the  control  of  the  colonial  office.^ 

*  Bruce,  "The  Broad  Stone  of  Empire,"  Vol.  I,  xix. 


[88] 


CHAPTER  V 

FROM  THE   REBELLION   TO   CONFED- 
ERATION.   1837  TO  1867 

PAPINEAU  was  the  leader  of  the  rebellion  Leaders 
in  the  French  province.  William  Lyon  °*^* 
Mackenzie  was  the  leader  in  the  much  less  san- 
guinary rising  in  Upper  Canada.  There  seems 
to  have  been  only  a  sympathetic  connection  be- 
tween the  two  revolts.  But  in  each  province 
there  were  adequate  causes  for  the  rebellion. 

Both  leaders  were  subject  to  fierce  criticism 
and  abuse  by  contemporary  writers  whose  sym- 
pathies were  with  the  ruling  cHques  at  Quebec 
and  Toronto.  Each  has  also  received  some 
harsh  criticism  from  some  Canadian  historians. 
Little  importance  now  attaches  to  any  of  this 
criticism;  for  Papineau  and  Mackenzie  between 
them  started  a  new  and  beneficent  era  in  British 
colonial  policy. 

Louis  Joseph  Papineau  was  born  at  Montreal  Papi- 
in  1786.  He  became  active  in  politics  in  1809,  °®*" 
and  was  elected  to  the  legislative  assembly  in 
18 1 2.  He  was  a  man  of  attractive  personality 
and  commanding  presence,  and  was  an  effective 
speaker  in  the  assembly  and  on  the  platform. 
He  was  also  a  man  of  the  highest  character. 
French-Canadians  were  always  in  a  majority  in 

C89] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Pamell 
of  French 
Canada 


Papi- 
neau's 
poUtical 
platform 


the  legislative  assembly  at  Quebec;  and  Papi- 
neau  was  elected  speaker  in  1815,  and  held  that 
office  until  the  rebellion. 

In  these  twenty-five  years  —  1812-1837  — 
Papineau  was  the  political  leader  of  the  French- 
Canadians.  The  issue  was  whether  the  British 
minority  or  the  French  majority  should  rule  at 
Quebec;  and  in  these  years  the  hold  of  Papineau 
on  the  French  people  was  quite  as  great  as  the 
hold  which  either  O'Connell  or  Parnell  had  on 
the  Nationalist  movement  in  Ireland  in  the 
nineteenth  century. 

Before  the  rebellion  there  was  nothing  disloyal  ^ 
or  treasonable  in  Papineau*s  platform.  What 
he  desired  was  stated  by  him  in  a  speech  in  the 
assembly  in  1835,  at  a  time  when  the  assembly 
was  harassing  the  government  at  Quebec  by 
withholding  supplies,  and  rendering  it  necessary 
that  measures  in  relief  should  be  passed  by  par- 
liament at  Westminster. 

"The  government  I  long  for,"  said  Papineau, 
in  this  speech  of  1835,  "is  one  composed  of 
friends  of  legality,  liberty,  and  justice  —  a  gov- 
ernment  which    would    protect    indiscriminately 

1  Private  advices  received  in  Montreal  last  night  an- 
nounced the  death  in  action  of  Captain  Talbot  M.  Papineau, 
M.C.,  of  Princess  Patricia's  Canadian  Light  Infantry.  In 
April,  1915,  he  was  awarded  the  Military  Cross  for  con- 
spicuous gallantry  at  St.  Eloi,  on  February  28.  Captain 
Papineau  was  the  great  grandson  of  Louis  Joseph  Papineau. 
He  was  a  Rhodes  scholar  at  Oxford.  —  GazetUy  Montreal, 
November  3,  1917. 

C90] 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1837  TO   1867 

every  proper  interest,  and  accord  to  all  ranks  and 
to  each  race  of  inhabitants  equal  rights  and  privi- 
leges. We  demand  for  ourselves  such  political 
institutions  as  are  in  accordance  with  those  of 
the  rest  of  the  Empire,  and  the  age  we  live  in."* 

William  Lyon  Mackenzie  was  a  Scotsman,  Macken- 
born  at  Dundee  in  1795.  He  emigrated  to  Upper  ^® 
Canada  in  1820.  He  was  a  man  of  some  educa- 
tion and  of  good  family.  Like  Papineau  he 
understood  the  working  of  government  by  par- 
liament and  cabinet  at  Westminster.  He  was 
persistent  and  resourceful  as  an  agitator.  He 
was  also  impetuous,  with  a  tinge  of  the  theatrical 
in  his  make-up. 

Immigrants  into  Canada  from  England  and 
Scotland  at  this  time  had  many  of  them  come 
under  the  influence  of  the  movement  for  parlia- 
mentary reform,  and  were  permeated  by  its 
radicalism.  Political  conditions  in  Canada  were 
even  worse  than  political  conditions  in  England 
before  1832.  They  aroused  the  indignation  of 
these  newcomers,  whose  influence,  along  with 
the  effect  of  the  success  of  parliamentary  reform 
at  Westminster,  helped  to  give  force  and  per- 
sistency to  the  movement  for  reform  in  Upper 
Canada. 

Mackenzie   soon   identified   himself  with   this   Upper 
democratic  movement.     In   1824  he  established    ^Q^gf 
at  Toronto  the  Colonial  Advocate;    and  attained    dread  of 
province-wide  fame  in  1826  through  a  stupid  and 

1  Boyd,  37. 

[91] 


a  free 
press 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

ill-conceived  riotous  attack,  made  by  the  younger 
Tories,  on  his  printing  plant,  during  which  his 
hand-press  was  thrown  into  Lake  Ontario. 
Macken-        In  1 828  Mackenzie  was  elected  to  the  assem- 
ferii*^^    bly.     There   he   made   himself  objectionable   to 
latureat     the  Tones  by  assailing  the  appointment  of  an 
Toronto      Episcopalian  chaplain  to  the  assembly;    by  his 
opposition  to  the  presence  of  an  Episcopal  and 
a  Roman  Catholic  bishop  in  the  legislative  coun- 
cil;   by  assailing  the  executive  for  crowding  the 
assembly  with  office  holders;    and  by  publishing 
the  division  lists  in  his  newspaper. 
Pubu-  For   publishing   the   division   lists,    a   practice 

cation        which  had   been  established  in  connection  with 

of 

division      the  house  of  commons  at  Westminster  since  1689, 
lists  Mackenzie  in  1832  was  expelled  from  the  assem- 

bly at  Toronto.  Four  times  he  was  reelected. 
Then  the  assembly,  without  any  constitutional 
warrant,  declared  him  incapable  of  serving  as  a 
member;  and  on  presenting  himself  he  was 
ejected  by  the  sergeant-at-arms. 
A  partisan  His  constituents  presented  a  petition  to  Head, 
governor  ^j^^  ^^g  ^|^gj^  govemor.  The  only  answer  to 
this  petition,  which  was  presented  to  the  gov- 
ernor in  person,  was,  "I  have  received  your  peti- 
tion"; and  no  redress  was  forthcoming  at  Toronto 
either  for  Mackenzie  or  for  his  constituents. 

A  landmark  in  the  constitutional  history  of 
Canada  of  interest  to  all  the  dominions  was  set 
up  by  Mackenzie  during  his  first  session  in  the 
legislative    assembly.      He    drafted    in    1828    a 

C92] 


EVOLUTION  FROM    1837  TO   1867 

statement  of  the  grievances  of  the  colonists  of  First 

Upper  Canada,  which  was  forwarded  by  the  re-  ^®°^^<^ 

formers   in   the   assembly  to  the   colonial  office  respon- 

in  London;   and  it  would  seem  that  in  this  mani-  ^'^^® 

.  .  govem- 

festo  the  first  claim  for  responsible  government  ment 
for  any  British  colony  was  made.  Papineau, 
in  his  speech  of  1835,  pressed  the  claim;  but  it 
was  one  to  which  seven  years  before  1835  the 
reformers  in  Upper  Canada  had  directed  their 
efforts. 

I.    The  Rebellions  in  Lower  and  Upper  Canada 

The  rebellion  in  Lower  Canada  broke  out  on   inter- 
November  6,  1837.    The  rising  in  Upper  Canada   j^y®'''^® 
began  at  Toronto  on  December  4.     The  imme-   pariia- 
diate  cause  in  Lower  Canada  developed  out  of  ^®*** 
the  popular  agitation,  led  by  Papineau,  against   West- 
a  resolution  passed  by  Parliament  at  Westmin-   °^ster 
ster,   providing  for  the   payment  of  salaries  of 
judges   in   Lower  Canada,   after   the    legislative 
assembly  at  Quebec  had  persistently  refused  to 
vote  supplies  for  these  payments. 

Meetings  to  protest  against  this  legislation  by    Gosford 
the  British  parliament  were  prohibited  by  Gos-   ^°' 
ford,  the  governor-general,  in  June.     But  they   protest 
went   on,   nevertheless,    from   June   to  October.    ™««t^«8 
The  crisis  came  in  November.    There  was  a  riot 
in  Montreal  on  the  6th.     Seven  of  the  leaders 
were  arrested.     These  men  were  taken  out  of 
the   custody  of  the  military;    and   the   fighting 
began  when  the  soldiers  attempted  to  arrest  one 

[93  ] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

of  Papineau's  associates  at  St.  Denis.  There 
the  rebels  fortified  a  stone  barn.  In  attempting 
to  take  the  barn,  Colonel  Gore,  who  was  in 
command  of  the  military,  lost  six  men  killed, 
and  ten  were  wounded. 
Three  Between  the  6th   and  the  22d  of  November 

Sr     ^^^^^  w^s  fighting  at  St.  Charles,  St.   Eustache, 
kiUed        and   Benoit.     Two   thousand   soldiers  were   en- 
gaged.    The  fatalities  were  mostly  on  the  side 
of   the    rebels.      Three    hundred    of   Papineau's 
followers  lost  their  lives.     Papineau  fled  to  the 
United  States,  and  was  a  refugee  there  until  1845.^ 
Fiasco  at       The  rising  at  Toronto  involved  no  great  loss 
Toronto     ^f  jjjpg      Mackenzie's  plan  was  to  seize  govern- 
ment house.     His  followers,  who  numbered   at 
most  not  more  than  750  men,  assembled  at  Mont- 
gomery's tavern  on  the  outskirts  of  the  town. 
They  were  quickly  dispersed  by  1200  volunteers. 
Five  of  the  rebels  lost  their  lives. 
Mac-  Mackenzie  fled  to  Navy  Island  in  the  Niagara 

River.  There  he  issued  a  proclamation;  set  up 
a  provisional  government;  printed  paper  money  — 
and  otherwise  introduced  a  touch  of  burlesque 
into  the  rising.  He  was  soon  dislodged  from 
\  Navy  Island,  and  fled  to  the  state  of  New  York, 

where,  after  serving  a  term  in  prison  for  viola- 
tion of  the  neutrality  laws  of  the  United  States, 
he  was  an  exile  until  a  general  amnesty  act  was 
passed  by  the  legislature  of  the  united  provinces 
of  Quebec  and  Ontario  in  1849. 

1  Cf.  Boyd,  45-76. 
[94] 


kenzie 
In  exile 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1837  TO   1867 

There  was  never  any  prospect  of  military  sue-   a 
cess  for  rebellion  in  either  Upper  or  Lower  Canada.    J®^®^°** 
But  if  a  revolution  is  a  rebellion  that  succeeds,    effected 
the  rebellion  of  1837  was  a  revolution.     In  its   ^^«^°^"- 
way  it  was  as  successful  as  the  American  revolu- 
tion.   It  was  the  only  time  after  1783  that  Brit- 
ish troops  were  in  action  against  armed  white 
British  subjects  in  any  of  the  British  colonies; 
and  all  that  is  beneficent  in  the  modern  era  of 
British  colonial  government  dates  from  the  Papi- 
neau   and  Mackenzie  rebellions,  and  the  epoch- 
making    mission    of    the    Earl    of    Durham    to 
Canada,  by  which  the  rebellions  were   immedi- 
ately followed. 

The   Melbourne   administration   of   183  5-1 841    wiuiam 

was  in  power  in  England  at  the  time  of  the  re-   ^^'^coo- 

bellions.     William  IV  died  in  June,  1837.     The   of 

death    of  the   king   gave   the   administration    a    ^°^°^^^ 
.  .  .  govern- 

freer  hand  m  coping  with  the  serious  problems   ment 

of  Canada. 

William  IV's  conception  of  colonies,  and  of 
the  relation  of  the  sovereign  to  them,  was  very 
similar  to  that  of  George  III.  When  Lord 
Gosford  was  sent  out  to  Quebec  as  governor- 
general  in  1835,  the  king  told  him  that  he  would 
never  consent  to  the  establishment  of  an  elective 
legislative  council.  The  king  held  that  control 
of  the  legislative  council,  by  nomination,  was 
one  of  the  prerogatives  of  the  crown.  *'It  was," 
he  said,  "a  safeguard  for  the  preservation  of  the 
wise  and  happy  connection  between  the  mother 

C95] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Qtteen 

Victoria 
and  the 
new  era 
in  British 
colonial 
policy 


Legis- 
lation at 
West- 
minster 


Character 
of   . 
Durham 


country  and  the  colonies,  which  it  was  both  his 
duty  and  his  inclination  to  maintain." 

The  development  of  the  British  cabinet  had 
not  reached  its  present  stage  in  1835.  William 
IV  was  the  last  sovereign  to  assume  an  attitude 
of  this  kind  towards  his  ministers;  and  for  the 
United  Kingdom,  as  well  as  for  the  colonies,  an 
era  of  less  monarchical  rule  began  with  the  ad- 
vent of  Queen  Victoria. 

II.   Durham  s  Mission  and  the  Durham  Report 

The  rebellions  necessitated  immediate  legisla- 
tion at  Westminster.  Accordingly  on  January 
16,  1838,  a  bill  was  introduced  in  the  house  of 
commons  suspending  the  constitution  of  Lower 
Canada  for  four  years,  and  authorizing  Durham, 
the  new  governor-general,  in  concert  with  an 
executive  council  of  five  members,  to  frame  ordi- 
nances for  the  province.  Durham  was  further 
authorized  to  investigate  and  report  on  condi- 
tions in  all  the  British  North  American  provinces, 
and  his  commission  constituted  him  governor- 
general  of  all  the  provinces  except  Newfoundland. 

Durham  was  in  his  forty-sixth  year  when  he 
was  intrusted  with  this  mission  to  Canada.  He 
was  a  man  of  great  wealth,  derived  largely  from 
coal  mines  in  the  county  of  Durham;  and  he 
was  son-in-law  to  Grey,  the  Whig  premier  of 
reform  bill  fame.  He  was  one  of  the  most  aggres- 
sive members  of  the  cabinet  during  the  crises 
over  the  reform  bill  of  1830-183  2;    always  ready 

[96: 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1837  TO   1867 

to  force  the  struggle  with  William  IV;  always 
ready  to  fight  for  the  bill  either  in  the  cabinet 
or  in  parliament;  and  the  politically  courageous 
part  Durham  had  in  framing  and  carrying  the 
reform  bill  would  have  given  him  a  conspicuous 
place  in  British  history  even  if  his  achievements 
of  1 830-1 83 2  had  not  been  overshadowed  by 
his  contribution  of  1838  to  the  inauguration  of 
the  new  era  in  British  colonial  policy. 

Durham's  famous   report  has   been   more  fre-  Durham's 
quently   reprinted,   more   frequently  edited    and   J^^j^^ 
annotated,  and  more  widely  read  over  the  English-   widely 
speaking  world  than  any  other  British  state  paper   ^^^^ 
of  the  nineteenth  century.^     He  was  in  Canada   paper 
only  from  May  29  to  November  i,   1838.     He   ""^^ 
resigned  and  returned  to  England,^  because  the   teenth 
Melbourne    government,    holding    that    he    had    ^^"^^^^ 
exceeded  his  powers,  disallowed  an  ordinance  of 
June  28,  1838,  banishing  eight  rebels  to  Bermuda. 
He  was  succeeded  in  August,   1839,  by  Poulett 
Thomson,  afterwards  Lord  Sydenham,  who  as  a 
colonial  governor  ranks  second  only  to  Durham 
in  the  history  of  the  estabhshment  of  responsible 
government  in  the  dominions. 

Condemnation  of  the  entire  system  of  govern-  ' 
ment  at  Quebec  and  Toronto  was  the  burden  of 
Durham's  report.     It  substantiated  nearly  every  j 
allegation  of  the  reformers  in  Canada  and  of  the 

^  The  authoritative  edition  is  edited,  with  an  introduction, 
by  Sir  Charles  P.  Lucas,  Clarendon  Press,  Oxford,  1912. 
«  He  died  July  28,  1840. 

[97] 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Durham's 
condem- 
nation 
of  the 
govern- 
ments at 
Quebec 
and 
Toronto 


Share 
of  the 
colonial 
office  in 
misrule 
in  Upper 
and 
Lower 
Canada 


Friction 

between 

Upper 

and 

Lower 

Canada 


radicals  who  had  supported  them  in  parliament 
at  Westminster.  It  demonstrated  that  oligar- 
chies had  ruled  in  both  provinces;  that  there 
was  no  system  of  municipal  government  —  that 
in  this  respect  Lower  and  Upper  Canada  com- 
pared badly  with  the  New  England  states;  that 
there  was  no  system  of  education;  that  justice 
was  badly  administered;  and  that  the  manage- 
ment of  crown  lands  was  characterized  by  job- 
bery and  fraud. 

The  colonial  office  in  London  was  also  con- 
demned; for  Durham  recalled  that  there  were 
eight  colonial  secretaries  from  1827  to  1837,  and 
that  the  policy  of  each  secretary  had  been  more 
or  less  different  from  that  of  his  predecessor.  In 
a  word,  Durham  stigmatized  the  whole  system 
as  vicious.  He  rejoiced  that  it  had  broken 
down. 

In  Lower  Canada  much  of  the  trouble  was  due 
to  race  antagonism.  In  addition  there  had  been 
friction  between  Upper  and  Lower  Canada  aris- 
ing out  of  a  common  use  of  the  St.  Lawrence; 
for  Upper  Canada  was  entirely  dependent  on  the 
tidewater  ports  of  the  lower  province.  This 
friction  had  been  so  serious  that  at  one  time 
there  was  a  plan  to  create  a  third  province  out 
of  the  Island  of  Montreal.  In  Montreal  the 
English  were  in  control;  and  such  a  plan  would 
have  ended  the  dependence  of  Upper  Canada  on 
ports  that  were  under  the  control  of  French- 
Canadians. 

[98] 


auto- 
cratic 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1837  TO  1867 

American  influence  on  political  conditions  in 
Canada  in  the  years  from  1783  to  1837  has  already 
been  noted.  More  evidence  of  this  influence  is 
contained  in  Durham's  report,  and  in  his  recom- 
mendations as  to  the  system  of  government  that 
should  be  adopted  at  the  great  crisis  of  183  7-1 840. 

The  suggestion  was  put  forward,  in  plans  pro-   An 
posed  to  Durham  for  the  government  of  Lower 
Canada,  that  as  a  permanent  or  as  a  temporary   govem- 
and  intermediate  scheme,  the  government  of  the   ™®°* 
French  province  should  be  constituted  on  an  en-   gested 
tirely  despotic  footing,  or  on  one  that  would  vest   ^°^ 
it  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  British  minority. 

"It  is  proposed,"  wrote  Durham,  "either  to   dut- 
place  the  legislative  authority  in  a  governor,  with 
a  council  formed  of  the  heads  of  the  British  party,   dem 
or  to  contrive  some  scheme  of  representation  by 
which  a  minority,  with  the  form  of  representation, 
is  to  deprive  the  majority  of  all  voice  in  the  man-   ^estion 
agement  of  its  own  aff'airs."  ^ 

The  adoption  of  such  a  plan  would  have  meant   "  cana- 
the  indefinite  continuation  of  the  dreary  period    ^^ 
of  colonial  history  of  1 791-1837.     But  at  this,    neigh- 
the  greatest  crisis  in  British  colonial  history  be-   *^'" 
tween  1783  and  the  great  war,  the  influence  of 
what  the  late  Sir  Richard  Cartwright,  for  forty- 
five  years  a  member  of  parliament  at  Ottawa, 
liked  to  describe  as  "Canada's  only  neighbor," 
again  made  itself  felt  on  the  destinies  of  what  is 
now  the  greatest  British  oversea  dominion. 
*  Cf.  Lucas,  II,  296-297. 

[99] 


ham's 
con- 


nation 
of  this 
sug- 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Influence  It  was  an  influence  not  of  the  government  at 
opSon^"  Washington,  but  of  the  people  of  the  United 
inthe        States,  indirectly  rather  than  directly  exercised. 

United       i^.   turned   the   scale  with    Durham.      Durham's 

St&tes 

report  turned  the  scale  with  the  Melbourne  gov- 
ernment, and  through  the  government  with  par- 
liament at  Westminster. 

Durham  thus  described  American  influence, 
and  how,  in  his  opinion,  it  would  affect  Canada, 
if  a  despotic  government  were  established  at 
Quebec: 

The  maintenance  of  an  absolute  form  of  government  on 
any  part  of  the  American  continent  can  never  continue  for 
any  long  time  without  exciting  a  general  feeling  in  the  United 
States  against  a  power  of  which  the  existence  is  secured  by 
means  so  odious  to  the  people;  and  as  I  rate  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  present  general  sympathy  of  the  United  States 
with  the  policy  of  our  government  in  Lower  Canada  as  a 
matter  of  the  greatest  importance,  I  should  be  sorry  that 
the  feeling  should  be  changed  for  one  which,  if  prevalent 
among  the  people,  must  extend  over  the  surrounding  prov- 
inces. The  influence  of  such  an  opinion  would  not  only  act 
very  strongly  on  the  entire  French  population,  and  keep  up 
among  them  a  sense  of  injury  and  a  determination  of  resist- 
ance to  the  government,  but  would  lead  to  just  as  great  dis- 
content among  the  English.^ 

Legis-  The  experience  in  Canada  of  a  government  not 
lative  responsible  to  the  people  did  not,  in  Durham's 
Upper  and  Opinion,  justify  a  belief  that  an  absolute  govern- 
Lower  ment  in  Lower  Canada  would  be  well  adminis- 

Canada 

urged  by    tered.      Durham   was   confident   that   the   great 


Durham 


^  Lucas,  II,  297. 
[100] 


EVOLUTION   FROM   1837  TO   1867 


reforms  in  the  institutions  of  the  French  province, 
which  must  be  made  before  it  could  be  a  well- 
ordered  and  flourishing  community,  could  be 
effected  by  no  legislature  which  did  not  repre- 
sent a  great  mass  of  public  opinion.  He  was  con- 
vinced that  tranquillity  could  only  be  restored 
by  subjecting  Lower  Canada  "to  the  vigorous 
rule  of  an  English  majority,  and  that  the  only 
efficacious  government  would  be  that  fci-med  by 
a  legislative  union."  ^  ... 

At  this  time  the  estimated  population  of  Uppet 
Canada  was  400,000.  The  number  of  English 
and  Scottish  people  in  Lower  Canada  was  150,000, 
and  of  French  450,000.  If  these  estimates  were 
correct,  Durham  believed  that  the  union  of  the 
provinces  would  not  only  give  a  clear  English 
majority,  but  one  which  would  be  increased  every 
year  by  immigration  from  the  United  Kingdom. 

Durham  was  convinced,  moreover,  that  the 
French,  when  once  placed  in  a  minority  by  the 
legitimate  course  of  events,  and  the  working  of 
natural  causes,  "would  abandon  their  vain  hopes 
of  nationality'';  for  he  held  that  the  union  of 
Scotland  with  England  in  1707,  and  the  union  of 
Ireland  with  Great  Britain  in  1800,  taught  "us 
how  effectually  the  strong  arm  of  a  popular  legis- 
lature would  compel  the  obedience  of  a  refrac- 
tory population,^  and  the  hopelessness  of  success 

1  Cf.  Lucas,  II,  307. 

2  Sir  Charles  Lucas  notes  that  the  history  of  Ireland  from 
1838  has  hardly  borne  this  out.    Lucas,  II,  308,  footnote. 

[lOl] 


Popu- 

latioa 

of   Upper 

and 

Lower 

Canada 

in  1888       ^ 


Durham 
and  the 
national 
aspira- 
tions  of 
French 
Cana- 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

would  gradually  subdue  the  existing  animosities, 

and  incline  the  French-Canadian  population  to 

acquiesce  in  their  new  state  of  political  existence."  ^ 

Advan-  Union  of  the  provinces,  according  to  Durham, 

tagesof     would   result  in  two   advantages.     The   British 

union  to  .         . 

Upper  would  conttol  the  new  legislative  assembly,  as 
Canada  ^^jj  ^g  ^.j^g  legislative  council;  and  union  would 
end  for  Upper  Canada,  for  which  there  was  no 
-suggestion  of  despotic  government,  the  disputes  as 
to  the  division,  or  amount  of  revenue,  collected  on 
imports  into  Canada  at  the  St.  Lawrence  ports. 

Lower  Canada  in  the  twenties  and  thirties  of 
last  century,  as  in  the  second  decade  of  the  twen- 
tieth, was  the  most  self-sustaining  area  of  the 
North  American  continent.  French-Canadians 
imported  little  from  the  United  Kingdom  or  from 
the  United  States.  The  needs  of  the  British 
population  in  Upper  Canada  were  greater  and 
more  varied.  Their  importations  from  the  United 
Kingdom  —  clothing  and  other  manufactured 
articles  —  were  comparatively  large. 
Import  All  import  duties  levied  by  the  legislatures  of 

duties  ^Y\e  British  North  American  provinces  until  1858 
revenue  were  for  revenue  only,  and  most  of  the  revenues 
°^y  of  the  provinces   were   raised    by  these   duties. 

The  disputes  between  Upper  and  Lower  Canada 
were  as  to  the  division  of  the  duties. 

Realizing  that  most  of  the  duties  were  finally 
paid  by  the  people  of  Upper  Canada,  this  prov- 
ince was  long  aggrieved  by  the  division  of  the 
1  Lucas,  II,  308. 
[102] 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1837  TO   1867 

money  collected  by  the  customs  officers  of  Lower 
Canada  at  Montreal  and  Quebec.  Durham  be- 
lieved that  with  union  the  surplus  revenue  of 
Lower  Canada  would  meet  the  deficiency  of 
Upper  Canada,  and  that  Lower  Canada  would 
be  placed  "beyond  the  possibility  of  locally 
jobbing  the  surplus  revenue."  Upper  Canada 
would,  by  union,  also  secure  access  to  the  sea; 
and  Lower  Canada  would  pay  its  fair  share  to 
the  cost  of  the  canals  in  Upper  Canada,  which, 
as  Durham  rightly  insisted,  were  as  much  the 
concern  of  one  province  as  of  the  other. 

The  saving  of  public  money  which  would  be   influence 
effected  by  the  union  of  the  governmental  estab-   ^^^  ^^ 
lishments    would,     Durham    contended,    supply   pariia- 
the  means  of  conducting  the  general  government   ™®^* 
on  a  more  efficient  scale.     "And,"  he  added,  in   west- 
summing  up  the  advantages  of  union,  "responsi-   °^^*«' 
bility  of  the  executive  would  be  secured  by  the 
increased  weight  which  the  representative  body 
of  the  United  Provinces  would  bring  to  bear  on 
the  imperial  government  and  legislature." 

Durham  was  wrong  in   the   assumption   that   where 
with  the  union  of  the  provinces  race  antagonism   ^'.^ 
and   the   struggle  of  the   French-Canadians   for   assump- 
nationality  would  gradually  disappear.     It  was   ^°°^ 
race  antagonism,  and  the  deadlocks  which  ensued    wrong; 
from  it,  that  forced  on  Confederation  in  1864-   ^^^^ 
1867.    He  was  wrong  also  in  assuming  that  econ-   were 
omy,  coupled  with  greater  efficiency,  would  result   ^^^ 
from  union.    But  he  was  absolutely  right  when 

[103] 


EVOLUTION  OF    THE   DOMINION  OF   CANADA 


he  assumed  that  the  increased  weight  of  the 
representative  body  would  have  influence  with 
the  imperial  government;  for  it  was  the  legisla- 
tive assembly  of  the  United  Provinces  that  in 
the  years  from  1841  to  1849  forced  the  conces- 
sion of  responsible  government  —  an  executive 
dependent  on  a  majority  in  the  assembly  —  and 
again  it  was  the  assembly  that  in  1 858-1 859 
insisted  on  the  concession  by  Great  Britain  of 
liberty  to  the  United  Provinces  to  frame  their 
own  customs  tariff,  regardless  of  British  manu- 
facturing interests. 

III.    The  Legislative  Union  of  1840 
Con-  The  Melbourne  government  acted  on  Durham's 

rfijMo^^  recommendation  that  Upper  and  Lower  Canada 
1867  should  be  united  in  one  province.  By  the  act  of 
1840,  which  established  this  union,  there  was 
created  the  constitution  of  1 840-1 867.  The  bill 
was  introduced  in  the  house  of  commons  by  Lord 
John  Russell.  Neither  in  the  commons,  nor  in 
the  lords,  was  the  discussion  in  general  from  the 
Whig  or  Conservative  standpoints. 
A  In  spite  of  appeals  from  the  Duke  of  Welling- 

«,o<.c,,rA  ^Qj^i  only  eight  or  nine  Conservatives  in  the 
house  of  commons  opposed  the  bill.  Gladstone 
was  still  a  Conservative  in  1840;  but  he  and 
Stanley  and  Peel,  also  Conservatives,  were  as 
anxious  as  Russell  and  his  colleagues  of  the  Whig 
administration  that  Canada  should  have  a  better 
1  Cf.  Parker,  "Sir  Robert  Peel,"  III,  379. 
[  104  ] 


supported 
by  both 
political 
parties 
at  West- 
minster 


EVOLUTION  FROM    1837  TO   1867 

form  of  government  than  experience  had  demon- 
strated was  possible  under  the  constitution  of  1791. 

The  debates   at  Westminster  were  character-   Con- 
ized   by   frequent   expressions   of  the   conviction   ^^"^^ 
that  Great  Britain  could  not  long  hold  colonies   colonies 
with  large  white  populations;    and  that  Canada   "^^^^ 
would    break   away  when    it   was    ready.      Peel   inde- 
and  Gladstone  gave  expression  to  these  convic-    pe«»<ie«^ 
tions.    They  were  anxious,  in  the  meantime,  that 
Great   Britain   should   do   all  that  she   could  to 
establish    a   beneficent   political    civilization    for 
the  colonies. 

Further  legislation  for  Canada  was  enacted  in   The 
the  session  of  1840.    A  bill  was  passed  empowering   f^'^ 
the  legislature  of  the  United   Provinces  to  deal   serves— 
with  the  clergy  reserves  without  interference  from    l^^f„ 
parliament.     The  plan  was  to  divide  the  money   the  new 
received  from  the  sale  of  the  clergy  reserves  among   J*^ 
the  churches.     The  Episcopal  church  was  to  have 
the  largest  share;  next  was  to  be  the  Presbyterian 
portion;   and  smaller  shares  were  to  be  assigned 
to  the  Methodist  and  other  churches. 

This  plan  was  adopted  at  once  by  the  legisla-   The 
ture  of  the  United  Provinces.     It  was  in  opera-   ^^^^^ 

^  reserves 

tion   until   1854,  when   the  clergy  reserves  were   from 
secularized.    From  1841  to  1854  each  church  was    JfJJ*^ 
free   to   expend   the   money   it   received   at  will, 
whether  for  the  support  of  its  clergy,  the  erec- 
tion of  places  of  worship,  or  for  education.^ 

1  Cf.  Stimson,  "  History  of  the  Separation  of  Church  and 
State  in  Canada,"  56-57. 

[lOi] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Legis- 
lature 
of  the 
United 
Provinces 


Urban 
develop- 
ment in 
Upper 
Canada 
from 
1791  to 
1840 


Urban 
constitu- 
encies 
Intiie 
new 
repre- 
sentative 
system 


The  new  constitution  for  the  United  Provinces 
that  was  enacted  by  parliament  in  1840  provided 
(i)  for  a  legislative  council,  nominated  like  the 
legislative  councils  at  Quebec  and  Toronto,  the 
members  to  hold  office  for  life;  and  (2)  for  a 
legislative  assembly  elected  on  the  s^me  fran- 
chises as  the  assemblies  of  1 792-1 840.  For  mem- 
bership of  these  assemblies  there  had  been  no 
property  qualification;  for  membership  of  the 
new  legislature  ownership  of  landed  property  of 
the  value  of  £500  was  a  prerequisite. 

In  the  period  from  1791  to  1840  eight  towns 
had  come  into  existence  in  Upper  Canada.  These 
were  Toronto,  Kingston,  Hamilton,  Brockville, 
Cornwall,  Niagara,  London,  and  Bytown  — 
known  since  1854  as  Ottawa.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  London  and  Ottawa,  all  these  towns  — 
now  cities  —  are  on  Lake  Ontario,  a  fact  which 
indicates  the  importance  of  water  transport  in 
the  early  settlement  of  Canada.  By  the  imperial 
act  of  1840  two  members  were  assigned  to 
Toronto,  and  one  each  to  the  other  seven  towns. 

Urban  development  in  Lower  Canada  had  pro- 
ceeded more  slowly  than  in  Upper  Canada.  The 
French-Canadian  is  usually  not  a  town  dweller. 
Sherbrooke,  in  the  eastern  counties  of  Lower 
Canada,  —  counties  that  were  settled  between 
1800  and  1840  chiefly  by  immigrants  from  the 
United  Kingdom,  —  was  the  only  new  town  suffi- 
ciently important  in  1840  for  separate  represen- 
tation in  the  assembly. 

C106] 


council 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1837  TO  1867 

Sherbrooke  was  assigned  one  member.  Two 
each  were  allotted  to  Montreal  and  Quebec,  and 
one  to  Three  Rivers.  There  were,  therefore,  in 
the  new  legislature  fifteen  representatives  of 
urban  constituencies. 

To  each  province  were  allotted  ten  members  /Legis- 
of  the  legislative  council.  To  each  province  also  ^J^^ 
there  were  allotted  forty-two  members  of  the 
assembly  —  a  provision  that  for  ten  years  was 
a  distinct  advantage  to  Upper  Canada,  and  a 
grievance  with  Lower  Canada.  In  the  fifties 
and  sixties,  when  immigration  had  given  Upper 
Canada  a  population  larger  than  that  of  the 
French  province,  the  position  was  reversed; 
and  out  of  this  reversal  of  the  position  at  the 
time  of  the  union  of  the  provinces  there  was 
developed  the  agitation  in  Upper  Canada  for  rep- 
resentation by  population  —  one  of  the  most 
vigorous  and  persistent  agitations  of  the  decade 
preceding  Confederation.^ 

There  was  a  provision  in  the  constitution  that   French 
the  legislature  might  add  to  the  number  of  mem- 
bers of  the  assembly.    In  1853  the  total  number   the 
of  members  was  increased  from  84  to  130.    The    ^®' 
census  of  1852  had  shown  that  the  population   in  the 
of  Upper  Canada  was  then  60,000  in  excess  of  J^^^J" 
that  of  Lower  Canada.     But  65  members  were    assembly 
apportioned  to  each  province;    and  the  French- 
Canadians  had  so  easily  the  upper  hand  in  the 
legislative  assembly  that  the  reform  demanded 
*  Cf.  Qarke,  "Sixty  Years  in  Upper  Canada,"  65. 

[107] 


Canada 
secures 


English 
language 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

by  Upper  Canada   could   not  be  obtained,   and 

I  was   not   obtained   until   the   principle  of  repre- 

'  sentation  according  to  population  was  embodied 

in  the  act  of  Confederation.^ 

Preemi-         Bills   introduced   into  the  legislature,   and   all 

nence        official  documents  for  record,  it  was  enacted  in 

assigned  ,  '  ,  , 

to  the  the  organic  law  of  1840,  must  be  in  the  English 
language;  but  this  provision  was  not  to  prevent 
copies  being  printed  in  French.  As  in  the  legis- 
lature at  Quebec  from  1792  to  the  rebellion,  both 
English  and  French  were  used  in  debate  in  the 
legislature  of  the  United  Provinces;  and  from 
1 841  to  the  present  day  there  has  never  been  a 
time  when  French-Canadian  members,  either  of 
the  legislature  of  the  United  Provinces,  or  of 
the  house  of  commons  or  senate  at  Ottawa,  have 
not  freely  exercised  this  privilege  of  speaking  in 
French  in  debate. 

Municipal  Provision  was  also  made  in  the  new  constitu- 
tion for  meeting  a  need  to  which  Durham  had 
called  attention  when  he  noted  the  efficiency  of 
municipal  government  in  the  United  States,  and 
the  fact  that  in  the  United  States  even  where 
municipal  institutions  were  "lacking  or  imper- 
fect, the  energy  and  self-governing  habits  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  population  enable  it  to  com- 
bine whenever  a  necessity  arises."  ^ 

There  was  a  clause  in  the  act  making  it  manda- 
tory on  the  government  of  the  United  Provinces 
to  constitute  townships,  and  organize  municipal 
1  Cf.  Boyd,  143-147.  2  Lucas,  II,  112-113. 

[108] 


govern- 
ment 


EVOLUTION  FROM    1837  TO   1867 

government.      A    temporary    measure    for    this   Munid- 
purpose  was  passed  by  the  legislature  in   1841.    J^«>^®^ 
A  municipal  code  was  framed  for  Lower  Canada   Lower 
in  1845;    and  in  1849  a  municipal  code  was  en-   ^^^ 
acted  for  Upper  Canada,  "which  at  last  gave  to   Canada 
the  people  the  system  of  self-government  which 
they  now  enjoy,   and   established   the   principle 
that  local  control  of  financial  matters  of  local 
interest  should  be  vested  in  the  taxpayers."  ^ 

Until  1846,  when  Great  Britain  adopted  free   Regu- 
trade  and  abandoned  her  old  commercial  policy,   ^"°'*  ^ 
duties  levied  on  imports  into  all  British  colonies   merce 
were  determined  by  parliament  at  Westminster,   [o^^^g* 
and    these    duties   were    fixed    with    a   view    to   British 
affording   British   manufacturers  a  monopoly  of  ^^" 
all  colonial  markets.    Accordingly  under  the  con- 
stitution of  1840  the  imperial  government  again 
reserved  the  power  of  imposing  duties  for  the 
regulation    of   commerce.      The    revenues    from 
these  customs  duties  were  to  flow  into  the  treas- 
ury of  the  United   Provinces;    and,   subject  to 
two    conditions,    the    legislature    was    conceded 
control  of  the  raising  of  all  other  revenues  and 
the  spending  of  all  revenues. 

These  conditions  were:     (i)  the   provision   of  other 
a  civil  list  for  the  salaries  of  the  governor-general 


reser- 
vatlons 


*  Clarke,  95-96.  Clarke,  who  was  clerk  of  the  legislature 
of  Ontario  from  1891  to  1907,  in  writing  of  the  municipal 
code  of  1849  and  its  amendments  —  page  96  —  says,  "It 
has  given  us  a  system  far  excelling  that  adopted  in  many 
states  of  the  American  Union." 

[109] 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Popular 
demands 
Ignored 
in  framing 
the  new 
constl- 


Two  of 
these 
demands 
subse- 
quently 
conceded 


and  the  judges;  and  (2)  the  provision  of  a  con- 
solidated fund  for  the  salaries  of  provincial  offi- 
cials. Over  the  civil  list  that  determines  the 
salaries  of  the  governor-general  and  the  judges, 
and  over  the  consolidated  fund,  parliament  at 
Westminster  retained  control  until  1847. 

The  only  bills  reserved  —  bills  to  which  the 
governor-general  could  not  give  the  royal  assent 
—  were  bills  affecting  religion  and  crown  lands. 

Three  demands  of  the  long  agitation  in  Lower 
and  Upper  Canada  which  had  preceded  the 
rebellion  of  1837  were  not  conceded  in  the  act 
of  1840:  the  legislative  council  was  not  made 
elective;  judges  and  civil  servants  were  not 
excluded  from  the  legislature;  and  there  was  not 
a  word  in  the  act  concerning  the  epoch-making 
claim,  urged  in  Upper  Canada  as  far  back  as 
1828,  for  responsible  government,  a  claim  that 
had  been  emphasized  in  Papineau's  platform  of 

1835- 

It  was   1853   before  the  constitution  of  1840 

was  amended  to  exclude  judges  and  civil  serv- 
ants from  the  assembly  and  the  legislative  coun- 
cil; and  it  was  1856  before  an  amending  act  was 
passed  at  Westminster  admitting  elected  mem- 
bers to  the  legislative  council.  Elected  members 
were  of  the  council  from  1856  until  Confedera- 
tion. 

At  the  time  the  constitution  of  1840  was  before 
the  house  of  commons.  Lord  John  Russell,  who 
was  in  charge  of  the  bill,  held   tenaciously  to 

[no] 


EVOLUTION   FROM    1837  TO   1867 

nomination  for  legislative  councils.    He  was  sure   womi- 
that   the   connection    between   the   colonies   and    J^^^ 
Great  Britain  would  be  in  danger  if  there  were   lative 
elected    legislative    councils.       But    like    other   ^°^^ 
fears  entertained  at  Westminster  between   1783    of 
and  1887  in  regard  to  the  colonies,  there  was  no   «™p^® 
ground  for  this  apprehension.     Seven  of  the  nine 
provincial  legislatures  of  Canada  today  have  no 
second    chamber;     and    even    the    most    ardent 
friends  of  the  senate  at  Ottawa,  if  it  has  any  such 
friends,^  never  advance  the  claim  that  the  nomi- 
nated senate  is  of  any  peculiar  value  in  main- 
taining the  imperial  connection. 

IV.    The  Struggle  for  Responsible  Government 

The  claim  for  responsible  government  was  con-   Fortunes 
ceded  in   1841.     The  concession  was  withdrawn   °'*^® 

■  move- 

in  1843,  but  was  completely  and  finally  conceded    ment 

in  1849.  Its  first  and  its  final  concessions  were  ^8°4ito 
due,  not  to  anything  actually  stated  in  the  act  1849 
of  1840,  although  that  memorable  act  was  the 
key  to  all  the  constitutional  freedom  now  en- 
joyed by  all  the  dominions.  They  were  due  to 
the  statesmanship  and  democratic  spirit  of  Syden- 
ham, Bagot,  and  Elgin,  three  of  the  four  govern- 
ors-general who  were  in  office  from  1839  to  1850, 
and  also,  it  is  important  to  note,  to  the  new 
policy  literally  forced  on  Downing  Street  by  the 
Liberals  of  Upper  and  Lower  Canada,  who  were 

1  Cf.  The  Round  Table,  London,  III,  December,  19 12,  to 
September,  19 13,  719-722. 

[Ill] 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Syden- 
ham's 
con- 
cessions 
to  the 
demand 


Cabinet 
govern- 
ment as 
at  West- 
minster 


Principles 
on  which 
Sydenham 
acted 


in  control  of  the  legislative  assembly  of  the  United 
Provinces,  during  the  first  decade  of  the  consti- 
tution of  1840. 

Durham  was  succeeded  by  Sydenham  in 
November,  1839.  The  new  governor-general 
recognized  the  justice  of  the  long-sustained 
demand  for  responsible  government,  and  the 
wisdom  of  prompt  concession.  Under  the  old 
regime  at  Toronto  and  Quebec,  the  executive 
councils  were  generally  composed  of  men  in 
political  opposition  to  the  majority  of  the  legis- 
lative assembly;  and  the  governor,  at  each  of 
these  capitals,  usually  took  extreme  care  to  have 
every  act  of  his  own  go  forth  on  the  responsibility 
of  the  executive  council.^ 

In  the  first  session  of  the  legislature  of  the 
United  Provinces  —  a  session  held  at  Toronto  in 
1 841 — Sydenham  chose  the  executive  council 
from  members  of  the  legislature  who  were  of  the 
political  party  in  the  majority  in  the  assembly. 
By  so  doing  he  established  cabinet  government 
in  Canada  on  the  same  basis  as  at  Westminster. 
Sydenham*s  conception  of  the  functions  and  duties 
of  a  governor  of  a  colony  having  representative 
institutions  was  so  novel  that  his  action  forms  a 
landmark  in  British  colonial  history,  scarcely 
second  in  importance  to  Durham's  famous  report. 

The  principles  of  Sydenham's  policy  were 
(i)  that  as  governor-general  —  as  the  represen- 
tative of  the  crown  in  Canada  —  he  was  himself 


[112] 


*  Cf.  Scrope,  "Lord  Sydenham,"  143. 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1837  TO   1867 

responsible  to  the  imperial  authorities  alone;  and 
(2)  that  it  was  his  duty  so  to  form  and  conduct 
the  government  as  to  insure  harmony  with  the 
majority  of  the  elected  legislative  assembly.^ 

Sydenham   died   at   Kingston,  Ontario's  most   a  mer- 
beautiful  lakeside  city,  in  September,  1841.     He   ^^^'^ 
was  only  forty-two.     He  was  not  of  the  aristo-   in  empire 
cratic  governing  class  of  England  —  not  of  the   ^^^^ 
territorial   aristocracy   from   which   at   this   time 
the  governing  class  was  almost  exclusively  drawn. 
He  was  not  a  peer  until  1840. 

In  his  earlier  life  Sydenham  had  been  a  mer-   Men  of 
chant  in  a  large  way  of  business  in  the  city  of  *^®  ^°™" 
London.     He   has   the   distinction   of  being  the   class  in 
first  man  of  the  commercial  class,  after  the  re-   ^p«^^ 
form  of  the  house  of  commons  m  1832,  to  attam 
front  rank  in  imperial  politics;    and  he  had  no 
successor  from  the  commercial  or  manufacturing 
class  in  the  wide  field  of  imperial  politics  until 
Chamberlain  became  colonial  secretary  in  1895. 
No  other  man  of  the  capitalistic  or  commercial 
classes  was  appointed  to  a  colonial  governorship 
until  Lord  Brassey,  a  great  railway  contractor, 
who  was  created  a  peer,  was  appointed  governor 
of  Victoria  in  1895. 

Queen  Victoria  objected  to  men  of  the  com- 
mercial class  as  colonial  governors.  In  1856  the 
Queen  vetoed  a  suggestion  by  Labouchere,  secre- 
tary for  the  colonies,  in  Palmerston's  adminis- 
tration, that  James  Wilson,  a  manufacturer,^  and 

1  Cf.  Scrope,  273. 

C113] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Qaeen  a  financier  of  national  fame,  who  was  also  founder 

^b-*°a*'*  of  the  Economist,  should  be  appointed  governor 

to  men  of  Victoria,   Australia.     It  was   then   a   colony 

of  com-  ^j^j^  representative  institutions,  but  not  in  the 

merce  as  .  '^ 

colonial      enjoyment  of  responsible  government.    Its  popu- 
goveraors  \^^[q^  ^^s  much  less  than  that  of  many  of  the 
parishes  of  London  in  1856. 

"Mr.  Wilson,"  the  Queen  wrote,  "would  not  be 
at  all  a  proper  person  to  be  governor  of  so  large 
and  important  a  colony  as  Victoria.  It  ought  to 
be  a  man  of  higher  position  and  standing,  and 
who  could  represent  his  sovereign  adequately."  ^ 
Men  of  The  ideas  expressed  in  the  Queen's  letter  of 

lov^tag^  1856  as  to  men  who  were  unfit  for  colonial  gov- 
ciassas  emorships  have,  as  a  rule,  held  good  at  the 
gov^rs  colonial  office  from  that  day  to  the  present  time. 
Governorships  in  the  dominions  —  offices  ordi- 
narily only  of  dignity,  form,  and  pageantry, 
under  the  system  of  responsible  government  — 
have  gone  almost  exclusively  to  men  of  the  terri- 
torial governing  class;  and  as  a  rule  these  offices, 
which  offer  no  career,  go  to  men  of  second  or 
third  rank  in  political  life  at  Westminster.^ 

^  Benson  and  Esher,  "Letters  of  Queen  Victoria,"  III, 
24-27. 

*  Munro-Ferguson,  who  in  1886  was  elected  to  the  house 
of  commons  from  Leith  Burghs  (Scotland),  was  in  1914 
appointed  governor-general  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Aus- 
tralia. "They  were  now,"  he  said,  at  a  farewell  meeting  of 
his  constituents  at  Leith,  on  February  10,  1914,  "giving 
their  late  member  a  first-class  political  funeral."  —  Herald, 
Glasgow,  February  11,  1914. 

[114] 


EVOLUTION   FROM   1837  TO   1867 

Sydenham  had  no  experience  of  colonial  ad-  Syden- 

ministration   before   he   arrived   at  Montreal   in  ***™ 

1839.     He  was  of  a  different  type  and  mental  type  of 

caliber  from  the  governors-general  and  lieuten-  *^^°*^*^ 

L  ^   r\      I.  -r  governor 

ant-governors  who  were  at  Quebec  or  loronto 
from  1 79 1  to  the  rebellion.  There  were  of  these 
governors  several  with  political  ability;  but  most 
of  them  were  military  men  who  needed  a  salaried 
job.  Sydenham  was  one  of  three  men —  Durham, 
Sydenham,  and  Elgin  —  whose  genius  for  gov- 
ernment, and  whose  courage,  vision,  and  popular 
sympathies  carried  Canada  successfully  through 
the  great  crisis  of  183 7-1 850,  and  made  possi- 
ble the  self-governing  dominions  and  their  loyalty 
to  Great  Britain. 

"Lord    Durham,"   writes   Sir   Charles   Lucas,   AcWeve- 
England's  foremost  authority  on  British  colonial   ™®^** 
history,   "preached  his  gospel   and   died.     Lord    Durham 
Sydenham,  before  he  too  died,  set  the  political   ^^^_ 
machine  running  in  the  right  direction.     Then   ham 
the  machine  went  on,  the  way  widened,  the  views 
widened.    Men  grew  up  to  contemplate  a  nation, 
and  after  contemplating  to  create  it.    Lord  Dur- 
ham's report  gave  the  inspiration.     Sydenham, 
with  his  combination  of  strong  popular  sympa- 
thies and  great  business  capacity,  showed  how  to 
begin  putting  principles  into  practice." 

"The   history   of  Canada,"   continues   Lucas,   Lucas's 
who  was  under-secret ary  at  the  colonial  office   ^^*^ 
from  1897  to  191 1,  and  next  in  importance  to  the   work 
secretary  for  the  colonies,  "has  been  on  the  whole 

["5] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

a  history  of  singular  good  fortune;  and  not  the 
least  part  of  this  good  fortune  has  been  that  Lord 
Durham  should  have  been  forthcoming  at  the 
particular  time  when  he  went  to  Canada;  and 
that  Lord  Sydenham  should  have  been  available 
as  his  successor.  It  would  be  difficult  to  find  in 
the  chronicles  of  any  country  two  men  who, 
within  little  more  than  three  years  in  all,  did  so 
much  to  help  the  coming  time."  ^ 
Bagot  Sir    Charles    Bagot,    a    member    of   Lincoln's 

s*d^-*^  Inn,  who  had  been  of  the  house  of  commons,  and 
ham's  who  had  served  as  parliamentary  under-secretary 
^"*^  for  foreign  affairs  with  Canning  as  his  chief,  and 
who  had  been  minister  at  Washington,  and  am- 
bassador at  Petrograd  and  The  Hague,  succeeded 
Sydenham  as  governor-general  in  184 1.  He  was 
appointed  by  the  Peel  government  —  a  Conserv- 
ative administration  that  had  come  into  power 
in  September,  1841. 

Bagot,  who  in  British  politics  was  a  Tory, 
continued  Sydenham's  policy.  At  a  crisis  in 
Quebec,  he  formed  his  government  "in  unison 
with  the  known  will  of  the  majority  of  the  popu- 
lar assembly."  ^  Bagot,  in  fact,  was  so  situated 
that  he  had  to  adopt  Sydenham's  principles  of 
government.^  Acting  on  the  broad  principle 
that  the  constitutional  majority  had  the  right  to 

1  Lucas,  "Durham  Report,"  I,  301-302. 

2  Parker,  "Sir  Robert  Peel,"  III,  382. 

'  Cf.  speech  by  Roebuck,  house  of  commons,  May  30, 
1842. 

Cii6] 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1837  TO   1B67 


Men  of 

the 

rebellion 


office 


Welling- 
ton's 
indig- 
nation 


rule  under  the  constitution,  he  appointed  Louis 
HyppoHte  Lafontalne  to  the  executive  council, 
in  association  with  Robert  Baldwin,  the  leader  of 
the  Liberals  of  Ontario. 

Lafontalne  had  succeeded  Paplneau  as  leader 
of  the  French-Canadian  Liberals;  and  with  La- 
fontalne's  appointment  to  the  executive  council  of  i837 
there  was  also  the  appointment  to  office  of  ^PPoi»t«<i 
several  French-Canadians  who  had  been  con- 
cerned In  the  rebellion  — men  who  belonged  to 
what  Wellington  stigmatized  as  "a  party  tainted 
with  treason."  ^ 

"What  a  fool,"  declared  Wellington,  "the 
man  (Bagot)  must  have  been  to  act  as  he  has 
done!  And  what  stuff  and  nonsense  he  has 
written!  And  what  a  pother  he  makes  about  his 
policy  and  his  measures,  when  there  are  no  meas- 
ures but  rolling  himself  and  his  country  In  the 
mire!"  "The  duke,"  Peel  was  told,  "can  talk 
of  nothing  else;  and  is  in  a  perfect  fury  of  anger 
and  indignation."  ^ 

Bagot' s  efforts  to  manage  what  Peel  described 
as  "the  fierce  democracy  of  Canada,"  developed 

1  Parker,  III,  384. 

2  Parker,  III,  382-383.  Wellington  died  in  1852.  With 
the  exception  of  the  Earl  of  Derby,  who  was  thrice  premier 
between  1852  and  1868,  Wellington  was  the  last  British 
statesman  who  dreaded  an  extension  of  self-government  to 
the  colonies.  He  was  the  last  to  learn  the  lesson  of  the  Ameri- 
can revolution.  He  was  certainly  the  last  statesman  to  hold 
the  idea  that  a  British  colony,  which  had  the  United  States 
as  neighbor,  could  long  continue  under  military  rule. 

[117: 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

"The        a  situation  that  Wellington  feared  would  be  fatal 
fierce        ^^  ^.}^g  Connection  of  the  United  Provinces  with 
racy  of      Great  Britain.     What  equally  troubled  Welling- 
Canada"    ^qj^  —  perhaps  troubled  him  even  more  —  was  a 
dread  that    Bagot's    concession  to  the    democ- 
racy of  French-Canada  might  be  fatal  to  Peel's 
cabinet,    of  which    he   was    a   member   without 
portfolio.^ 
Bagot  Bagot  had  no  friend  at  court.    Long  before  his 

recaUed  dispatches  had  arrived  in  London  —  dispatches 
that  came  as  a  thunderbolt  to  Wellington  —  as 
early,  in  fact,  as  September  9,  1841,  Queen  Vic- 
toria had  regretted  her  formal  approval  of  Bagot's 
appointment  as  governor-general.  "The  Queen," 
she  wrote  to  Peel,  "cannot  refrain  from  saying 
that  she  cannot  quite  approve  of  Sir  Charles 
Bagot's  appointment,  as  from  what  she  hears  of 
his  qualities  she  does  not  think  that  they  are  of 
a  character  quite  to  suit  in  the  arduous  and  diffi- 
cult position  in  which  he  will  be  placed."  ^ 

After  much  commotion  within  PeeFs  cabinet, 
Bagot  was  censured.  It  was  hopeless  for  him 
to  attempt  to  continue  as  governor-general.  He 
asked  for  his  recall.  His  request  was  complied 
with;  and  he  died  in  Canada  soon  after  the 
arrival  of  his  successor.  Sir  Charles  T.  Met- 
calfe. 

Bagot  made  his  stand  for  Sydenham's  enlight- 
ened policy.     He  was  highly  regarded  as  a  colonial 

1  Cf.  Parker,  III,  382. 

*  Benson  and  Esher,  I,  405-406. 

C118] 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1837  TO  1867 

reformer  by  radicals  at  Westminster  such  as  Roe-   Bagot  as 
buck  and  Hume,^  and   by  one  at  least   of  his   *fo^°*»^ 

.  .  .  .         .  reformer 

biographers  he  is  credited  with  having  inaugu- 
rated responsible  government  in  Canada.^ 


V.   Metcalfe* s  Repudiation  of  Responsible 
Government 

Unlike  Durham,  Sydenham,  and  Bagot,  Met-   Met- 


calfe's 

oriental 


colonial 
govem- 


calfe,  who  was  created  a  peer  in  1845,  had  had 
a  varied  experience  of  governorships  before  he  ideas  of 
reached  Canada  in  1843.  He  was  then  fifty-eight 
years  of  age.  He  had  been,  from  the  time  he  ment 
left  Eton  in  1800,  to  1838,  in  the  service  of  the 
East  India  Company — an  indifferent  school  for 
a  governor  of  a  colony,  with  representative  insti- 
tutions, like  the  united  provinces  of  Upper  and 
Lower  Canada,  and  a  colony,  moreover,  that  was 
vigorously  pushing  for  responsible  government.^ 
Metcalfe's  last  Indian  appointment  was  as  lieu- 
tenant-governor of  the  northwest  provinces. 
From  1839  to  1842  he  had  been  governor  of 
Jamaica,  where  he  had  been  eminently  success- 
ful in  adjusting  relations  between  the  English 
sugar  planters  and  the  403,000  negroes  who  had 
been  liberated  from  slavery  in  1838. 

Metcalfe  did  not  follow  the  policy  of  Syden- 

*  Cf.  Parliamentary  Debates,  Series  III,  vol.  75,  pp.  33 
and  61. 

*  Cf.  "Dictionary  of  National  Biography,"  Supplement  I, 
98;    Boyd,  "Cartier,"  72. 

'  Walrond,  "  Letters  and  Journals  of  the  Earl  of  Elgin,"  33. 

C119] 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Sydenham  ham  and  Bagot.     He  refused  recognition  of  the 
^^  principle  of  responsible  government  —  any  recog- 

poiicy  nition  that  would  satisfy  Canadian  political 
tato^e  le^d^rs.  At  the  time  Bagot  resigned,  the  Lafon- 
discard  taine-Baldwin  ministry  was  in  power.  This  was 
the  ministry  whose  formation  had  been  the  cause 
of  Bagot' s  loss  of  prestige  in  Downing  Street. 
Met-  Kingston  was  then  the  seat  of  government  of 

caife's       ^j^g  United  Provinces;   and  Metcalfe,  soon  after 

ambition  ,  .  . 

he  had  established  himself  in  that  city  as  governor- 
general,  undertook  to  make  himself  practically 
minister  of  the  colony.^  He  refused  to  accept  the 
recommendations  of  the  executive  council  in 
regard  to  public  appointments.  He  "refused  to 
follow  the  advice  of  his  ministers  in  matters 
which  were  within  their  absolute  province."  ^ 
Furthermore,  when  he  was  interviewed  by  a  dep- 
utation of  electors  from  Upper  Canada,  who 
asked  that  he  follow  the  constitutional  practice 
initiated  by  Sydenham,  Metcalfe  made  a  speech, 
much  more  suited  to  the  political  atmosphere  of 
India  than  to  that  of  any  British  North  Ameri- 
can province  after  the  rebellion  of  1837. 
His  "If  you  mean,"  said  Metcalfe,  "that  the  gover- 

attitude      j^qj.  jg  ^q  have  no  exercise  of  his  own  judgment  in 

towards  i      •    •  •  r     i  j    • 

the  the  admmistration  of  the  government,  and  is  to 

executive    j^g  ^  mere  tool  in  the  hands  of  the  council,  I  totally 

council  ,  .  .  .   .  .   ^ 

disagree  with  you.    That  is  a  condition  to  which 

1  Cf.  Speech  by  Earl  of  Ellenborough,  H.  of  L.,  June  15, 
1854. 

*  Speech  by  Cartier,  at  St.  Denis,  1844,  Boyd,  88. 

[  120  ] 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1837  TO   1867 

I  never  can  submit,  and  which  her  majesty's 
government,  in  my  opinion,  can  never  sanction.^ 
If  you  mean  that  every  word  and  deed  of  the 
governor  is  to  be  previously  submitted  for  the 
advice  of  the  council,  then  you  propose  what, 
besides  being  unnecessary,  is  utterly  impossible, 
consistent  with  the  due  despatch  of  business."  ^ 

Metcalfe's  difficulties  with  the  Lafontaine-Bald-   Met- 
win  administration  had  arisen  over  an  appoint-   *^*"*'^ 
ment  in  the  civil  service  —  over  patronage.     In   ception 
his  speech  Metcalfe  took  up  this  question,  and   ^^®^ 
expressed  himself  in  strong  terms  in  regard  to  the    pouticai 
claims  of  the  ministers.    "If  you  mean,"  he  con-    P^t^on- 
tinued,  "that  the  patronage  of  the  crown  is  to 
be  surrendered  for  exclusive  party  purposes  to 
the  council,  instead  of  being  distributed  to  reward 
merit,  to  meet  just  claims,  and  to  promote  the 
efficiency  of  the  public  service,  then  we  are  at 
issue  again.    Such  a  surrender  of  the  prerogative 

1  "The  claim  for  responsible  government,"  said  Stanley, 
secretary  of  state  for  the  colonies,  in  defending  Metcalfe's 
policy  and  administration  in  Canada,  in  the  house  of  com- 
mons on  May  30,  1844,  "is  inconsistent  with  the  existence 
of  monarchical  institutions;  and  in  the  next  place  with  the 
relations  that  should  exist  between  a  colony  and  the  mother 
country.  It  is  inconsistent  with  monarchical  government 
that  the  governor  who  is  responsible  should  be  stripped  of 
all  authority  and  all  power,  and  be  reduced  to  that  degree 
of  political  power  which  is  vested  in  the  constitutional  sov- 
ereign of  the  country." 

2  Egerton    and  Grant,  "Canadian  Constitutional  Docu- 
ments," 295. 

C 121  ] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


His 

distinc- 
tion as  a 
governor- 
general 
of 
Canada 


of  the  crown  ^  is,  in  my  opinion,  incompatible 
with  the  existence  of  a  British  colony."  ^ 

There  had  been  no  utterance  from  a  governor- 
general  in  this  key  since  Head's  rebuff  to  Mac- 
kenzie's constituents  when  they  petitioned  against 
his  exclusion  from  the  assembly  at  Toronto.  Met- 
calfe has  the  distinction  of  being  the  last  governor- 
general  of  Canada  to  use  such  language  to  his 
ministers  or  to  their  constituents. 

Responsible  government  meant  nearly  all  that 
Metcalfe  inferred;  and  his  attempt  in  1 843-1 845 
to  stay  the  progress^  towards  responsible  govern- 
ment was  as  useless  as  it  would  have  been  for 
him  to  command  the  waters  of  Lake  Erie  to  cease 
flowing  over  Niagara  Falls. 

*  As  late  as  October  i,  1843,  there  was  no  realization  at 
Whitehall  of  the  changing  conditions  in  the  United  Provinces, 
or  of  the  claim  for  responsible  government  which  was  being 
insistently  pressed  on  the  governor-general.  In  that  month 
the  "Rules  and  Regulations  for  Her  Majesty's  Colonial  Serv- 
ice" were  revised  and  reissued;  and  on  page  19  in  the  new 
edition  there  is  a  rule  applicable  to  the  distribution  of  patron- 
age. "  Great  weight,"  it  reads,  "  must  always  be  attached  to 
local  services  and  experience.  Every  governor  will,  therefore, 
make  once  in  each  year  a  confidential  report  of  the  claims  of 
candidates,  whether  already  employed  in  the  public  service 
or  not,  whom  he  may  consider  to  possess  that  qualification, 
in  order  that  when  a  vacancy,  or  an  opportunity  for  promo- 
tion, occurs,  the  secretary  of  state  may  have  before  him  the 
means  of  judging  how  far  the  particular  candidate  recom- 
mended by  the  governor  is,  on  the  whole,  best  qualified,  and 
whether  a  candidate  of  proper  qualifications  is  to  be  found  in 
the  colony  or  in  any  adjacent  colony." 

'  Egerton  and  Grant,  295. 

[122] 


EVOLUTION   FROM   1837  TO   1867 

Racial   divisions   existed   in   the   legislature   of   Doubie- 
the  United  Provinces  from  1841   to  1866.     But   ^j°^*y 
party   lines  were   not   identical  with   race  lines.    double- 
All   the  members  from  Quebec  were  not  Liberal,    ^l^^^ 
nor  all  the  members  from  Ontario  Conservative. 
Combinations  of  groups  from  each  province  were 
necessary  to  secure  a  party  majority  in  the  as- 
sembly.    It  was  by  a  combination  of  this  kind 
that  the  Lafontaine-Baldwin  administration  was 
formed  when  Bagot  was  governor-general. 

Such  an  administration  was  known  as  a  double- 
majority  and  double-headed  cabinet,  because  a 
British  and  a  French  party  leader  —  of  equal 
rank  in  the  cabinet,  and  each  with  his  regimented 
following  in  the  assembly  —  were  necessary  to 
keep  the  administration  in  power. 

Robert  Baldwin,  who  with  Lafontaine  was  at   Baid- 
the  head  of  the  government  when  Metcalfe  at-   ^'!^ 
tempted  to  restore  the  old  regime  and  enforce  his   the 
old  crown  colony  ideal  of  colonial  government,   ^*™«8i« 
was  the  leader  of  the  Liberals  in  Ontario.     He   respon- 
had  been  in  the  political  life  of  the  upper  prov-   ^*^^® 
ince   since    1829,   when   he  was    elected    to   the   ment 
assembly.    He  had  been  a  radical  and  a  reformer 
at  Toronto,  when  association  with  radicals  and 
reformers    meant    a    boycott    for  a    professional 
man  —  he  was  a  lawyer  —  and  meant  also  social 
ostracism. 

With  Baldwin  from  1829  to  1849,  responsible 
government  was  the  alpha  and  omega  of  political 
reform.    He  was  the  author  of  the  municipal  code 

[123] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

of  1849,  a  democratic  measure  of  much  value  in 

the  domestic  history  of  Ontario.     But  his  fame 

today,  Hke  that  of  Lafontaine,  rests  chiefly  on 

his  part  in  the  successful  struggle  for  responsible 

government  under  the  constitution  of  1840. 

Outcome        The  Lafontaine-Baldwin  government   resigned 

^^®*"      in  September,  1844.      It  was  succeeded   by  the 

oppo-        Draper-Viger  government,  which  had  as  its  fol- 

sition  to     lowing  members  of  the  assembly  from  both  Que- 

respon-  °  .  .-'.  ^- 

sibie  bee  and  Ontario,  who  were  willing  to  accede  to 

govern-      Metcalfe's  views  of  responsible  government.    But 

these  members  were  not  numerous  enough  to  give 

the  Draper-Viger  administration   a  majority  in 

the  assembly.     Without  a  majority  there  could 

be  no  votes  in  supply  —  no  money  with  which 

to  carry  on  the  government. 

Governor-      Under  the  constitution  a  session  of  the  legis- 

generai's    i^tm-g  \^^^  ^q  ^g  \^q\^  g^ch  year,  and  a  legislature 

power  to  .  .  .  r       f  r> 

dissolve     might  Continue  m  existence  tor  tour  years.     But, 
fhir**^^^'   ^^  under  the  British  constitution,  the  governor- 
general  had  power,  as  he  has  today,  to  dissolve 
the  legislature  at  a  crisis  which  seemed  to  make 
expedient  a  new  appeal  to  the  electorate. 
Metcalfe        Metcalfe,    under    the    conditions    which    con- 
partisan^   fronted  him  in  the  autumn  of  1 844  —  with  La- 
fontaine and  Baldwin  out  of  office,  but  with  their 
followers   still   compact   and   hostile  to  the  new 
government  —  was  compelled  to  dissolve  the  legis- 
lature.   He  was  compelled  to  take  this  step,  or  to 
yield  to  the  demand  for  responsible  government, 
as  the  radicals  conceived  it. 
[  124] 


EVOLUTION   FROM    1837  TO   1867 

The  new  ministers,  Draper  and  Viger,  were 
Conservatives  —  Tories,  as  Conservatives  in  Can- 
ada were  called  until  1855.  Metcalfe  had  had  no 
experience  in  the  management  of  elections.  Elec- 
tions were  unknown  in  India.  But  he  threw  him- 
self into  the  election  of  1844  with  all  the  vigor 
that  had  characterized  Head's  intervention  in  the 
election  in  Upper  Canada  in  1836,  and  with  such 
success  that  a  majority  was  secured  in  the  assem- 
bly for  Draper  and  Viger. 

As  Metcalfe  was  the  last  governor-general  to  Last 
assume  what  today  would  be  regarded  as  a  dis-  ^^" 
tinctly  unconstitutional  position  towards  an  ad-    general 

ministration,  so  also  was  he  the  last  governor  who   ^  '°.*®'' 

1  •  u  1.    T  •  '®'^®^ 

was  openly  partisan.     He  was  the  last  to  inter-    elections 

fere  in  a  general  election  in  the  interest  of  either 

party.    Within  less  than  a  year  of  his  success  at 

the  election  of  1844,  Metcalfe  died  —  the  third 

governor-general  to  die  in  Canada  in  the  years 

from  1 841  to  1845. 

For  only  about  two  years  was  the  movement    Qneen 
for  responsible  government  retarded  by  Metcalfe's    ^^^^*^ 
conflict  with  the  Lafontaine-Baldwin  ministry  and    tionof 
his  success  in  securing  a  majority  in  the  assembly    ^^"^ 
for  Draper  and  Viger.     But  unlike  Bagot,  Met-   poUcies 
calfe  had  friends  at  court.     His  administration 
and  his  policy  were  regarded  by  Queen  Victoria, 
and  by  the  prince  consort,  as  "prudent,  consist- 
ent,  and  impartial." 

"Upon  the  continuance  and  consistent  appli- 
cation of  the  system  which  Lord  Metcalfe  has 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

laid  down  and  acted  upon,"  wrote  Prince  Albert, 
in  August,  1846,  "will  depend,  in  the  Queen's 
estimation,  the  future  welfare  of  the  province, 
and  the  maintenance  of  proper  relations  with 
the  mother  country."  ^ 
Met-  Metcalfe's  policy  certainly  was  in  accordance 

caife's       ^j^i^  ^Pjg  instructions  he  had  received  when  he 

instruc-  ,  ... 

tions         was     appomted    governor-general  —  mstructions 
which  Stanley,  who  was  then  colonial  secretary 
in   Peel's  administration  of  1 841-1846,  on  Feb- 
ruary 2,  1844,  declined  to  lay  on  the  table  of  the 
house  of  commons. 
His  policy       There  was  a  debate  on  that  day  on  Metcalfe's 
by'&e**^    administration.      Stanley   expressed    satisfaction 
colonial      that  the  question  had   been  raised;    for  he  be- 
secretary    ijgyg^j  [^  q(  importance  that  there  should  be  no 
mistake    as    to   the   views   of   the   government. 
"  Metcalfe,"  reads  the  report  of  Stanley's  speech, 
"was  sent  to  Canada  to  carry  out  the  fairly  new 
colonial  system,  but  equally  determined  to  resist 
those  extravagant   demands  which  were   incon- 
sistent with  the  authority  of  the  crown,  and  of 
the  true  rights  of  a  colony.     He  believed  that 
the  course  taken   by  the  governor-general  was 
the  right  one,  and  he  had  no  hesitation  in  stating 
that  it  met  with  the  entire  concurrence  of  the 
government  at  home."^ 

Metcalfe's  death  was  regarded  by  the  Queen 
as  a  great  loss.     Her  correspondence  with  minis- 

*  Benson  and  Esher,  II,  111-112. 

*  Pari.  Debates,  Series  III,  vol.  72,  p.  145. 

-    [126] 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1837  TO   1867 


ters  at  this  time  shows  that  she  fully  endorsed 
their  policy  of  conceding  to  the  United  Provinces 
something  far  short  of  what  Baldwin  and  Lafon- 
taine  understood  by  the  term  —  a  term  of  Cana- 
dian origin — "responsible  government."  "The 
selection  of  a  successor,"  the  Queen  wrote,  "will 
be  most  difficult;"  and  she  urged  on  Stanley, 
that  it  was  of  "the  greatest  importance  that  the 
judicious  system  pursued  by  Lord  Metcalfe,  which, 
after  a  long  continuation  of  toil  and  adversity, 
only  now  ^  just  begins  to  show  its  effect,  should 
be  followed  up  by  his  successor." '^ 

Queen  Victoria,  in  this  letter  of  November  2, 
1845,  added  that  she  knew  "nobody  who  would 
be  as  fit  for  the  appointment  as  Lord  Elgin,  who 
seems  to  have  given  great  satisfaction  in  Jamaica," 
where  he  had  succeeded  Metcalfe  as  governor  in 
1842. 

VI.   Responsible  Government  under 
the  Elgin  Regime 

During  the  whole  of  her  sixty-four  years*  reign 
the  Queen  can  scarcely  have  done  what  are  now 
the  dominions  a  more  valuable  service  than  when 
she  suggested  the  appointment  of  Elgin  to  Stan- 
ley. The  appointment  was  ultimately  made, 
not  by  the  Peel  government  to  which  the  Queen 
had  addressed  her  letter,  but  by  the  government 
of  Lord  John  Russell,  which  had  succeeded  the 
Peel  administration  in  July,  1846. 

*  November  2,  1845. 

•  Benson  and  Eshcr,  II,  54-55;  111-112. 

C»7] 


Some- 
thing 
short  of 
respon- 
sible 
govern- 
ment 
to  be 
conceded 


Queen 

suggests 
Elgin  as 
Met- 
calfe's 
successor 


A 

fortunate 
sugges- 
tion 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Elgin's  Elgin,    who    was    thirty-five    when    he    was 

'^"^  appointed    governor-general,    did     not    continue 

makers      Metcalfe's  poHcy,  although  when  the  Russell  gov- 

Briti\       ernment  was  about  to  make  the  appointment  — 

Empire      August  3,  1 846  —  the  Queen  urged  on  Earl  Grey, 

the  new  colonial  secretary,  that  "regard  should 

be  had  to  securing  an  uninterrupted  development 

of  Lord  Metcalfe's  views."  ^ 

Today  Elgin  ranks  with  Durham  and  Syden- 
ham among  the  great  colonial  administrators  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  Had  he  followed  in  Met- 
calfe's footsteps  —  made  speeches  like  that  of 
Metcalfe  to  the  advocates  of  responsible  govern- 
ment, and  interfered  in  elections  —  his  name  would 
have  been  of  interest  only  to  colonial  antiquaries. 
Elgin's  Durham    and    Sydenham    were    Whigs  —  ap- 

^th^ta  pointees  of  a  Whig  government.  Bagot  and 
1841  Metcalfe  were  Conservatives,  appointees  of  a  Con- 
servative government.  Elgin  was  a  Conserva- 
tive. Had  he  not  been  a  Conservative  he  would 
not  have  been  suggested  by  the  Queen  to  a  Con- 
servative government  in  1846;  for  governorships 
in  the  dominions,  as  distinct  from  governorships 
of  crown  colonies,  are  regarded  as  patronage  at 
Westminster,  except  when  occasionally  a  prince 
or  other  connection  of  the  royal  family  is  ap- 
pointed.2     Otherwise     governorships    go,     as    a 

1  Benson  and  Esher,  II,  112. 

^  The  Marquis  of  Lome,  who  was  governor-general  of 
Canada  from  1878  to  1883,  was  husband  of  Princess  Louise, 
daughter  of  Queen  Victoria. 

C128] 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1837  TO   1867 


matter  of  course,  to  supporters  of  the  adminis- 
tration at  Westminster. 

At  this  period  of  his  career  Elgin  was  a  Liberal- 
Conservative.^  But  the  HberaHsm  was  pre- 
ponderant. He  was  not  a  Tory  of  the  type  of 
Wellington.  He  was  not  even  a  Tory  of  the 
school  of  Stanley,  afterwards  Earl  of  Derby,  from 
whom  in  1842  he  had  received  his  appointment  as 
governor  of  Jamaica.  He  had  avowed  his  Hb- 
eraHsm when  he  was  a  candidate  for  the  house 
of  commons  for  Southampton,  in  1841;  ^  and  he 
carried  his  liberalism  into  practice  during  the 
six  years  he  was  governor-general  of  Canada. 

Before  Elgin  left  England  for  Canada  in  1847, 
he  married  a  daughter  of  Durham.  This  would 
seem  to  have  broadened  his  liberalism  and 
strengthened  his  popular  sympathies.^  It  un- 
doubtedly gave  the  Durham  family  added 
importance  in  the  history  of  the  struggle  for 
responsible  government,  a  struggle  which  had 
been  carried  to  a  successful  issue  when  Elgin 
left  Canada  in  December,  1854. 

At  the  time  that  Elgin  was  governor-general 
of  Canada,  and  for  at  least  a  quarter  of  a  century 
afterwards,  the  attitude  of  many  statesmen  in 
England  —  Conservatives  as  well  as  Liberals  — 
was  that  colonies  such  as  Canada,  Australia,  and 
New  Zealand  would  end  the  connection  with 
Great  Britain  as  soon  as  they  were  strong  enough 

1  Cf.  Walrond,  ibid.y  9.  2  cf.  Walrond,  ibid.,  9-10. 

»  Cf.  Walrond,  ibid.,  44. 

[129] 


Elgin's 

marriage 

with  the 

daughter 

of 

Durham 


Helping 
the 

colonies 
to 

prepare 
for 
inde- 
pendence 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


New- 
castle's 
views   on 
holding 
colonies 
by  force 


American 
influence 
once  more 


to  Stand  alone.  Many  English  statesmen  were 
convinced  that  the  constitutions  framed  by  par- 
liament after  1840  for  colonies  with  representa- 
tive government  were  only  provisional  —  only 
preliminary  to  constitutions  in  which  these 
colonies  would  assert  their  complete  independence. 

Proof  of  the  existence  of  this  conviction  is 
abundant  in  the  biographies  and  letters  of  British 
statesmen  of  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. Expressions  of  it  are  to  be  found  in  the  de- 
bates of  the  house  of  lords  on  June  15  and  29, 
1854,  on  the  legislative  council  (Canada)  bill;  and 
as  late  in  the  nineteenth  century  as  1862  the 
colonies  were  told  by  the  Duke  of  Newcastle, 
who  was  secretary  of  state  for  the  colonies  in  the 
Palmerston  administration  of  1 859-1 865,  that 
he  trusted  the  day  would  never  come  when  the 
mother  country  would  make  an  effort  to  retain 
her  colonies  by  force. 

"I  trust,"  added  Newcastle,  "that  the  day 
will  never  return  when  a  single  redcoat  will  point 
a  bayonet,  or  fire  a  shot,  in  hostility  to  the  colo- 
nies if  they  wish  to  separate  from  the  mother 
country."  ^  Here  again  America  had  its  influence 
on  British  colonial  policy;  for  the  conviction 
that  the  colonies  would  break  away  was  largely 
based  on  Great  Britain's  experience  of  1 776-1 783 
with  the  American  colonies. 

These  convictions  were  all  ill-founded.     This 

*  Speech  by  Duke  of  Newcastle,  Australian  anniversary 
dinner,  London,  February  12,  1862. 

C  130  ] 


vlctlons 
for  whici: 


was  no 
basis 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1837  TO    1867 

fact  was  demonstrated  to  the  world  several  times  Con- 
in  the  years  from  Queen  Victoria's  jubilee  in 
1887  to  the  outbreak  of  the  war  in  August,  1914.  there 
As  one  concession  after  another  was  made  to 
the  dominions,  in  the  years  from  1840  to  1907, 
when  they  were  conceded  the  liberty  to  make 
their  own  commercial  treaties  with  foreign  powers, 
and  as  the  dominions  increased  in  population, 
material  wealth,  and  world-wide  political  impor- 
tance, they  drew  nearer  to  Great  Britain.  They 
attached  increasing  importance  to  the  imperial 
connection;  and  when  war  came  a  million  troops 
were  raised  in  the  dominions,  and  the  response 
which  the  dominions  made  to  the  Empire's  need 
was  in  some  respects  more  remarkable  than 
England's  own.^ 

From  1840  to  1880,  however,  the  conviction  was 
widely  held  that  the  colonies  with  representative 
and  responsible  government  would  inevitably 
break  away  as  soon  as  it  suited  them  to  do  so. 

Elgin  never  held  this  view  of  the  temporary   Elgin 
character  of  the  connection  between  the  domin-   ^^'  ^ 

vinced 

ions  and  Great  Britain.    He  did  not  go  to  Canada  of  the 

with  the  idea  that  he  was  to  aid  in  perfecting  a  ^"d"'*^ 

system  of  government  that  was  to  be  only  pro-  nection 

visional,  or  with  the  conviction  that  the  British  °^*^® 

,  colonies 

North  American  colonies  would   follow  the  ex-   with 
ample  of  the  American  colonies,  and  end  the  con- 
nection with  Great  Britain. 

*  Cf.  Adams,  "Imperial  Federation  after  the  War,"  TaU 
RevieWt  July,  19 16,  688-694. 

[131] 


Great 
Britain 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF    CANADA 

His  con-        As  Elgin  conceived  it,  his  mission  was  to  con- 
ception of  vince  Canadians  that,  without  severing  the  bonds 
mission      that  united  them  with  Great  Britain,  "they  might 
in  Canada  attain  the  degree  of  perfection  and  of  social  and 
political   development  to  which   organized   com- 
munities of  freemen  had  the  right  to  aspire."  ^ 
His  frank       The  principles  on  which  Elgin  based  his  policy 
ofthe^*^     as  governor  were  identical  with  those  that  had 
policy  of     guided   Sydenham  in   1841.     He  would   identify 
Sydenham  j^jfj^self  with  no  party,  but  would  make  himself 
a  moderator  between  the  influential  of  all  parties. 
He  would  have  no  ministers  who  did  not  enjoy 
the  confidence  of  the  Canadian  people;    and  he 
would   not   refuse   his   consent   to   any   measure, 
proposed  by  the  ministry,  unless  it  were  of  an 
extreme  party  character,   such   as  the   assembly 
or   the   electors   would    be   sure   to   disapprove." 
FamUy  Elgin  arrived  at  Montreal  at  the  end  of  De- 

Compact  cember,  1847.  On  the  day  that  he  took  oath  as 
Elgin's  governor-general,  he  received  an  address  of  wel- 
deciara-     come   from   the   municipaHty   of  Montreal.      In 

tion  of  his  .       .  IT         J 

principles  reply  he  intimated  that  he  had  frankly  and  un- 
equivocally adopted  Durham's  view  of  colonial 
governorship — an  intimation  that  caused  no 
little  astonishment  to  the  Family  Compact  and 
its  partisans,  who  had  scarcely  more  sympathy 
with  Durham's  principles  of  colonial  government 
than  they  had  with  republicanism  in  the  United 
States.^ 

*  Walrond,  ibid.,  116.  *  Walrond,  ibid.,  34. 

8   Cf.  Walrond,  ibid.,  36. 

C132] 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1837  TO   1867 

The  Draper-Viger  government  was  at  this  time 
still  in  office.  The  leaders  and  their  partisans 
were  in  good  humor,  as  they  were  in  enjoyment 
of  the  offices  to  which  as  Tories  of  the  Family 
Compact  group  they  were  convinced  they  had  a 
prescriptive  right.  The  Liberals  were  in  a  hope- 
ful mood,  as  they  were  convinced  —  rightly,  as 
it  developed  —  that  with  the  end  of  the  Met- 
calfe regime  a  better  era  would  open  for  the  advo- 
cates of  responsible  government. 

A  dissolution  of  the  legislature  came  at  the  Defeat 
end  of  1847.    As  soon  as  the  newly  elected  assem-  ^^^ 
bly  convened,  early  in   1848,  the  Draper-Viger  govem- 
ministry  was  again  in  the  position  in  which  it  ™®"* 
was  when  it  was  first  organized.     It  was  in  a 
minority,  and  unable  to  carry  on  the  government. 

A  new  ministry  —  again  a  Lafontaine-Baldwin 
administration  —  was  formed  from  the  opposi- 
tion; and  at  this  juncture  the  members  of  the 
two  parties  observed  a  truce  long  enough  to  con- 
cur in  an  expression  of  admiration  of  the  perfect 
fairness  and  impartiality  with  which  Elgin  had 
conducted  himself  during  the  election  and  the 
formation  of  the  new  ministry.^ 

Within  a  year  of  his  assuming  the  governor-  Elgin's 
generalship,  Elgin  thus  succeeded  in  carrying  ^* 
into  effect  the  second  of  the  principles  on  which 
his  administration  was  to  be  based  —  that  he 
would  have  no  ministers,  no  members  of  the 
executive  council,  who  could  not  command  a 
1  Cf.  Walrond,  ibid.,  50. 

C133] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION    OF   CANADA 

majority  in  the  legislative  assembly.  He  had 
still  to  make  a  fight,  in  the  end  successful,  for 
his  third  principle,  that  he  would  not  refuse  his 
consent  to  any  measure  proposed  by  the  cabinet, 
unless  it  were  of  an  extreme  party  character, 
such  as  the  assembly  or  the  electors  would  dis- 
approve. 

VII.    The  Rebellion  Losses  Bill 

A  The  test  came  on  the  measure  known  in  Cana- 

^dmark   jj^^^  history  as  the  rebellion  losses  bill  —  a  bill 
Canadian    almost  as  important  in  the  constitutional  history 
tationai      °^  Canada  as  the  act  of  union  of  1840,  and  quite 
develop-    as    important    as   the   tariff  acts   of   1 858-1 859, 
™®"*         out    of  which    developed    the    right    of    British 
colonies,    with    representative    and     responsible 
governments,  to  frame  their  own  tariffs  without 
interference   from   the   colonial   office   or   parlia- 
ment at  Westminster. 

The  object  of  the  rebellion  losses  bill  was  to 
provide  for  the  indemnification  of  men  in  Lower 
Canada  whose  property  had  been  destroyed  dur- 
ing the  rebellion.  Elgin  regarded  the  bill  as  a 
questionable  measure;  "but,"  to  use  his  own 
words,  "one  which  the  preceding  administration 
had  rendered  almost  inevitable  by  certain  pro- 
ceedings adopted  by  them"  during  Metcalfe's 
term  of  office. 

Some  compensation  had  been  paid  to  persons 
who  had  suffered  loss  of  property  in  the  rebel- 
lion.    In  the  last  session  of  the  old  legislature 

[134] 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1837  TO   1867 

of  Upper  Canada  a  compensation  bill  was  enacted;  Com- 
and  by  an  ordinance,  passed  by  the  council  that  ^^^*^<>» 
was  in  existence  in  Lower  Canada  during  the  sus-  sufferers 
pension  of  the  constitution  from  1838  to  the  ^^°^^^^ 
union  in  1840,  some  compensation  was  also  paid  in  Upper 
in  Lower  Canada.  ^^^ 

In   both   provinces  the   payments  made  were   claims 
deemed  inadequate;    and  in  the  first  session  of  ?°™ 
the  legislature  of  the  United  Provinces  —  1841  —  Canada 
a  bill  was  enacted  for  further  compensation  for 
sufferers  in  Upper  Canada.     In  1845  there  was 
an  appeal  on  behalf  of  sufferers  in  Lower  Canada. 
It  was  addressed  to  Metcalfe,  who  responded  by 
appointing  a  commission  of  inquiry.     The  com- 
mission reported  in  April,  1846,  that  there  were 
losses  for  which  compensation  should  be  paid. 

The  Draper-Viger  government  took  no  action 
on  the  report.  The  question  of  compensation  was 
consequently  pending  when  the  Lafontaine-Bald- 
win  government  again  came  into  power  in  1848. 

The  Metcalfe   commission   had   reported   that  An 
$100,000  would  cover  the  losses  still  to  be  com-   ^^«"^«<* 

,  .  question 

pensated  in  Lower  Canada.  The  bill  that  was 
introduced  into  the  legislature  in  1848  by  the 
Lafontaine-Baldwin  government  appropriated 
$90,000  for  this  purpose.  There  was  a  provision 
in  the  bill  that  no  person  who  had  been  con- 
victed, or  who  had  pleaded  guilty  of  treason, 
during  the  rebellion,  should  be  entitled  to  any 
compensation.^ 

*  Cf.  Walrond,  ibid.,  70-74. 

C135] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Oppo- 
sition by 
the  Tories 


Elgin's 
assent  to 
the 

compen- 
sation bill 
resolu- 
tions 


His 

reasons 
for  his 
assent 
communi- 
cated 
to  the 
colonial 
office 


The  Tories  in  both  provinces  raised  a  great 
commotion  against  the  bill.  There  was  much 
hard  language  from  the  loyalists  against  Elgin, 
who  was  urged  to  dissolve  the  legislature,  though 
little  more  than  a  year  had  elapsed  since  the 
general  election.  The  bill,  however,  was  per- 
sisted in  by  the  Lafontaine-Baldwin  administra- 
tion. 

In  all  British  legislatures  money  bills  originate 
in  the  lower  house.  They  are  based  on  resolu- 
tions. If  the  resolutions  are  carried  they  are 
embodied  in  a  bill  which  is  introduced,  and  goes 
through  all  its  stages  in  both  houses  like  any  other 
measure. 

The  resolutions  on  which  the  rebellion  losses 
bill  was  based  —  resolutions  which,  by  con- 
stitutional usage,  could  not  have  been  submitted 
to  the  legislative  assembly  had  the  governor- 
general  not  signified  his  assent  to  them  by  message 
to  the  house  —  were  carried  by  fifty  to  twenty- 
five  votes.  The  bill  was  carried  by  forty-seven 
to  eighteen  votes. 

The  reasons  which  induced  Elgin  to  give  his 
assent  to  the  resolutions  were  explained  in  a 
letter  which  he  wrote  from  Montreal  to  Grey, 
who  was  secretary  for  the  colonies  in  the  Russell 
administration  of  1846-1852.  "The  measure 
itself,"  he  wrote,  "is  not  indeed  altogether  free 
from  objection;  and  I  very  much  regret  that  an 
addition  should  be  made  to  our  debt  for  such  an 
object  at  this  time.     Nevertheless,  I  must  say, 

C136] 


school 
Canadian 


EVOLUTION   FROM   1837  TO   1867 

I  do  not  see  how  my  present  government  could 
have  taken  any  other  course  in  this  matter  than 
that  which  they  have  followed.  Their  prede- 
cessors had  already  gone  more  than  halfway  in 
the  same  direction,  though  they  stopped  short 
and  now  tell  us  that  they  never  intended  to  go 
further.  If  the  ministry  had  failed  to  complete 
the  work  of  alleged  justice  to  Lower  Canada 
which  had  been  commenced  by  the  former 
administration,  M.  Papineau  ^  would  most  as- 
suredly have  availed  himself  of  the  plea  to  under- 
mine their  influence  in  this  section  of  the 
province."  ^ 

A  disposition  to  observe  constitutional  usages   old 
and    practices   was    never    characteristic    of   the 
Tories  of  the  Family  Compact  groups  in  Upper  Tories' 
and  Lower  Canada.     They  were  a  law  to  them-   ^^T" 
selves,  as  was  sufficiently  proved  by  their  ejection   for 
of  Mackenzie    from    the    assembly    at   Toronto.   f°2^ 
They  again  ignored  constitutional  usage  in  the   usages 
crisis   over   the    rebellion    losses    bill.     They   or- 
ganized   many    petitions    against    the    bill;     but 

^  "Returning  from  exile  in  1845,  after  eight  years'  absence 
from  Canada,  Papineau  decided  to  reenter  public  life;  and 
the  prestige  of  his  name,  and  of  his  past  parliamentary  tri- 
umphs, were  sufficient  to  secure  his  election  for  the  constit- 
uency of  St.  Maurice.  Papineau  at  once  showed  himself 
irreconcilable.  He  was  against  the  union.  He  had  no  faith 
in  responsible  government,  such  as  was  advocated  by  La- 
fontaine  and  his  colleagues,  and  he  declared  in  favor  of  inde- 
pendence." ^     Boyd,  76. 

*  Walrond,  ibid.y  74-75. 

•   [137  J 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Elgin's 
attitude 
towards 
the 


compen- 


biU 


instead  of  presenting  these  petitions  to  the 
assembly,  or  to  the  legislative  council,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  usage  at  Westminster,  they 
addressed  them  to  Elgin  personally.  This  un- 
constitutional course  was  obviously  adopted  with 
the  design  of  bringing  about  a  collision  between 
the  governor-general  and  his  ministry  and  the 
assembly. 

At  Westminster,  where  petitions  to  the  sover- 
eign can  only  be  presented  through  the  home  sec- 
retary, petitions  thus  out  of  order  would  have  not 
tothe**°°  reached  the  Queen.  Elgin,  acting  consistently 
on  the  first  of  the  principles  on  which  he  based 
his  administration,  that  he  would  make  himself 
a  mediator  and  a  moderator  between  the  two 
political  parties,  received  the  petitions  against 
the  rebellion  losses  bill.  He  received  them 
civilly,  and  promised  to  bestow  on  them  his  best 
consideration,  but  studiously  avoided  the  expres- 
sion of  any  opinion. 

"By  maintaining  a  strictly  constitutional  posi- 
tion," writes  his  biographer,  "he  failed  that 
section  of  the  agitators  who  calculated  on  his 
being  frightened  or  made  angry,  while  he  left  the 
door  open  for  any  one  who  might  have  candor 
enough  to  admit  that,  after  all,  he  was  only 
carrying  out  fairly  the  principle  of  responsible 
government."  ^ 

From  the  assembly  the  rebellion  losses  bill 
went    to    the    legislative    council;     and    here    it 


C138] 


1  Walrond,  ibid.,  77. 


EVOLUTION   FROM    1837  TO   1867 

should  be  noted  that  Elgin  in  appointing  members   Elgin's 
to  the  council  had   acted  on  the  advice  of  his   ?°^" 

nons 

ministers.     By  so  doing,  he  had  accepted  another  to  the 
demand  of  the  protagonists  of  responsible  govern-  J^^ 
ment,    and    established    the    usage    which    has   councu 
continued  at  Ottawa  and  at  Quebec  and  Halifax 
to  the   present   day.     It   is  in   accordance  with 
this  usage  that  appointments  to  the  senate,  and 
to  the  legislative  councils  in  the  provinces  where 
these  exist,   are  made   by  the  governor-general, 
or  the  lieutenant-governors,  as  representatives  of 
the  crown,  but  invariably  on  the  advice  of  the 
cabinet  at  Ottawa  or  the  provincial  executives  at 
Quebec  and  Halifax. 

The  bill,  having  passed  the  assembly  and  the   Compcn- 
council,  was  ready  for  the  royal  assent  on  April   JJjJ°° 
25,    1849.     It    received    the    royal    assent    from   receives 
Elgin  on  that  day.     As  Elgin  left  the  parliament  ^^ 
house  in  Montreal  he  was  received  with  mingled    assent 
cheers  and  hooting,  and  his  carriage  was  pelted 
with  rotten  eggs,  thrown  by  a  "small  knot  of 
individuals  consisting  of  persons  of  a  respectable 
class  in  society." 

An  open-air  demonstration  in  the  Champs  de  Loyalist 
Mars  followed  the  outbreak  at  the  parliament  ^^^^ 
building.  Inflammatory  speeches  were  made; 
and  on  a  sudden  the  mob  proceeded  to  the  house 
of  parliament,  where  the  members  were  still 
sitting.  After  breaking  the  windows,  the  mob 
set  fire  to  the  building,  and  burned  it  to  the 
ground.    The   crowd   then   dispersing,    members 

[139] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

of  the  legislature  were  permitted  to  leave  without 
molestation;  and  no  resistance  was  offered  by 
the  riotous  loyalists  to  the  soldiers  who  came 
on  the  scene  to  assist  in  extinguishing  the  fire.^ 
An  At  the  next  sitting  of  the  assembly  an  address 

fromtif      ^^^  voted  to  the  governor-general.     It  expressed 
legislative   abhorrence  of  the  outrage  of  April  25,  and  ap- 
assembiy    pj-Qval  of  Elgin's  "just  and  impartial  administra- 
tion  of  the   government."     It   also   commended 
his   attitude  towards   the  Draper-Viger  ministry 
as    well     as     towards     the    Lafontaine-Baldwin 
cabinet. 
Mora  Elgin  went  into  the  city  on  April  30  to  receive 

loyalist       ^i^jg   address.     He  was   escorted   by   a  troop   of 

demon-  r\  - 

strations  Volunteer  dragoons.  On  his  way  through  the 
streets  he  was  greeted  with  a  shower  of  stones. 
Returning  from  the  parliament  house  to  Monk- 
lands,  his  residence  on  Mount  Royal,  Elgin 
varied  his  route  to  avoid  further  hostile  demon- 
strations. But  the  mob,  discovering  his  purpose, 
rushed  in  pursuit.  They  again  assailed  his 
carriage  with  stones,  rotten  eggs,  and  other 
missiles;  and  it  was  only  by  furious  driving  that 
the  governor-general  reached  Monklands  unhurt. 
For  several  days  Monklands  was  prepared  for 
a  siege;  and  for  two  or  three  weeks  Elgin  did 
not  leave  the  grounds,  as  he  was  determined  that 
no  act  of  his  should  offer  occasion  or  excuse  to 
the  mob  —  an  exclusively  British  as  distinct  from 
a  French-Canadian  mob  —  for  further  outrages. 
1  Cf.  Walrond,  81-82;  Burpee,  "Sandford  Fleming,"  34. 
[  140  ] 


EVOLUTION   FROM    1837  TO   1867 

Members  of  the  Lafontaine-Baldwin  ministry  Eigin'g 
feared  that  if  Elgin  went  again  into  Montreal,   [gl,,!^ 
his  life  would  be  in  danger.^     As  the  legislature  as  in 
was  still  sitting,  ministers  urged  the  appointment   ^^^^ 
of  a   deputy-governor   for  the   purpose   of  pro- 
roguing  the   legislature,    thus    avoiding    another 
journey  for  Elgin  to  the  parliament  house.     Less 
responsible    advisers    urged    Elgin    to    use    the 
military  forces   at  his  command   to  protect  his 
person  in  an  official  visit  to  Montreal. 

While  Elgin  was  thus  a  prisoner  at  Monklands,   Develop- 
there  were  two  developments  of  importance  —  ?^ 
Elgin  tendered  his  resignation  to  Grey,  and  ad-   the  crisis 
dresses  were  forwarded  to  the  governor-general 
from  various  parts  of  Upper  and  Lower  Canada 
indorsing  the  fight  he  was  making  for  responsible 
government. 

One  of  these  addresses  was  from  a  settlement  Elgin 
of  Scotch   Highlanders   in   the   county  of  Glen-   ^^^ 
garry,  Upper  Canada.     "It  is  truly  gratifying  to   cause 
me,"   wrote   Elgin   to  his   fellow  countrymen   in 
Glengarry,    "to   learn   that   you    appreciate   my  he^ 
exertions.     Depend    upon    it    they    will    not    be  ^?' 
relaxed.     I  claim  to  have  something  of  your  own 
spirit,  devotion  to  a  cause  which  I   believe  to  be 
a  just  one,  courage  to  confront,  if  need  be,  danger 

^  "Great  as  has  been  Elgin's  success,"  said  the  Earl  of 
Derby,  in  the  house  of  lords,  on  June  29,  1854,  "I  cannot 
help  saying  and  feeling  that  the  leading  principle  on  which 
Lord  Elgin  has  acted  has  been  concessions  one  after  another 
to  popular  demands  —  concessions  which  would  enable  him 
to  lead  an  easy  life." 

[  141  ] 


which 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

and  even  obloquy  in  its  pursuit,  and  an  undying 
faith  that  God  protects  the  right."  ^ 
Consti-  Elgin's    resignation    was    offered    to   Grey   on 

tuaonai      ^    ii  2C,  the  day  that  the  loyalists  burned  the 

govern-  ,•  i  «t      •  c  •      •        »» 

menton  paruament  house.  It  is  my  hrm  conviction, 
Its  trial  j^g  wrote  to  the  colonial  secretary,  "that  if  this 
dictation  be  submitted  to,  the  government  of 
this  province  by  constitutional  means  will  be 
impossible,  and  that  the  struggle  between  over- 
bearing minorities,  backed  by  force,  and  ma- 
jorities resting  on  legality  and  estabhshed  forms, 
which  has  so  long  proved  the  bane  of  Canada, 
driving  capital  from  the  province,  and  producing 
a  state  of  chronic  discontent,  will  be  perpetuated." 
Elgin  These  were  the  views  that  Elgin  unfolded  to 

offers  his    Grey.     But  while  holding  these  views  as  to  the 
nation        teal   nature   of  the   struggle   then   going   on    in 
to  the        Montreal,  he  conceived  it  his  duty  to  the  govern- 
office         ment    at   Westminster   to    suggest   that    "if  he 
should    be   unable   to    recover   that   position   of 
dignified     neutrality     between     the     contending 
parties  which  it  had  been  his  unremitting  study  to 
maintain,"  it  might  be  a  question  "whether  it 
would  not  be  for  the  interests  of  her  majesty's 
service  that  he  should  be  removed  to  make  way 
for  some  one  who  should  have  the  advantage  "of 
being  personally  unobnoxious  to  any  section  of 
her  majesty's  subjects  within  the  province."  ^ 

Grey  would   not  hear  of  Elgin's   resignation. 
Were  he  to  resign  it  would  be  a  most  serious  loss 
1  Walrond,  ihid.y  87-88.  *  Walrond,  ihid.^  86. 

[142] 


oflSce 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1837  TO   1867 

to  her  majesty's    service  and    to   the  province.    Queen 
Moreover,  with  conditions  as  they  were  in  Mont-  ^^^ 
real,  it  would  be  "most  injurious  to  the  public  that 
welfare,  from  the  encouragement  which  it  would   ^^^ 
give  to  those  who  had  been  concerned  in  the  vio-   ms 
lent  and  illegal  opposition"  to  Elgin's  government 
Relying  on  Elgin's  devotion  to  the  interests  of 
Canada,  Grey  was  sure  he  would  not  be  induced 
to  retire  from  the  high  office  the  Queen  had  been 
pleased  to  intrust  to  him,  "and  which,"  he  added, 
"from  the  value  she  puts  on  your  past  services, 
it  is  her  majesty's  anxious  wish  that  you  should 
retain."  ^ 

VIII.     Responsible  Government  Accepted  and 
Indorsed  by  Parliament  at  Westminster 

The     loyalists     then     appealed     to     England.   Appeals 
Petitions  were  sent  from  Montreal  to  Westminster  I*^  ^® 

loyalists 

for  the  disallowance  of  the  rebellion  losses  bill,   to 
Gladstone,  who,  it  will  be  recalled,  was  not  of  J^" 
the  Liberal  party  until  1859,  denounced  the  bill   at 
in  the  house  of  commons  ^  as  a  measure  for  the   ^*!*' 

minstef 

rewarding  of  rebels;  and  Herries,  who  had  been 
a  member  of  the  Wellington  and  Peel  adminis- 
tration, moved  for  an  address  to  the  Queen  for 
its  disallowance.  There  was  a  debate  on  this 
motion  extending  over  two  nights.  In  the 
course  of  it  Elgin's  policy  was  defended  by  Peel, 
almost  as  strongly  as  by  Russell. 

Russell    stoutly    contended    that    under    the 
»  Walrond,  ibid.,  86-87.  '  June  14,  1849. 

[143] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Russell's  constitution  of  1840  the  majority  in  the  United 
eulogy  of    Provinces  must  rule.     The  premier's  speech  was 

respon-  .  .  .  .       *^ 

sibie  remarkable,  in  view  of  his  dread  in  1837,  and 
govern-  agaJn  in  1840,  of  responsible  government  in 
Canada.  "Not  only,"  he  said,  "has  Canada 
self-government,  but  responsible  government, 
which  has  never  been  enjoyed  to  such  an  extent 
as  it  has  been  since  the  time  of  the  Earl  of  Elgin. 
If  the  present  ministry  in  Canada  are  sustained 
by  popular  opinion  and  by  the  assembly,  they 
will  remain  in  office.  If,  on  the  contrary,  the 
opinion  of  the  province  is  adverse  to  them,  the 
governor-general  will  take  other  advisers,  and 
will  act  strictly  in  accordance  with  the  rule  that 
has  been  adopted  here." 
End  of  a  There  was  a  majority  of  141  against  the  motion 
twen^  to  disallow.  In  the  house  of  lords  a  majority 
struggle  also  supported  the  position  that  Russell  had 
taken  in  the  house  of  commons;  and  by  these 
two  epoch-making  divisions  at  Westminster  in 
June,  1849,  a  struggle  that  had  been  going  on  in 
Canada  since  1828  was  brought  to  a  triumphant 
conclusion.  Thereafter  there  was  no  more  discus- 
sion of  Canadian  grievances  in  parliament  at 
Westminster.  There  were  no  more  petitions 
from  Conservatives  in  Canada  who  objected  to 
responsible  government. 
Anew  Thenceforward  a  new  principle  governed  the 

principle  colonial  office  in  its  relations  with  colonies  with 
at  the  representative  and  responsible  government.  This 
c^oniai      principle  was  that  the  imperial  government  had 

[144] 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1837  TO   1867 

no  interest  whatever  in  exercising  any  greater 
influence  in  the  internal  affairs  of  the  colonies 
than  was  indispensable,  either  for  the  purpose  of 
preventing  any  one  colony  from  adopting  measures 
injurious  to  another,  or  to  the  empire  at  large.^ 

In  the  following  year,  1850,  when  bills  estab-  a  free 
lishing    responsible   government    in    New    South   ^^ 
Wales,  Van  Diemen's  Land,  New  Zealand,  and   legis- 
Cape    Colony   were    before    parliament,    Russell  ^**^«* 
made  a  statement  of  the  attitude  of  the  imperial   govem- 
government  towards  the  colonies  that  are  now  of  *"®^** 
the  dominions.     "I   am   convinced,"  he  said  in 
the  house  of  commons,  "that  any  man  acquainted 
with  the  colonies  will  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
it  is  only  in  rare  cases  that  the  authority  of  the 
crown   ought  to   be   interposed,    and   that  with 
regard  to  local  affairs  the  executive  and  legis- 
lative  authorities   of  the  colonies   are  the  best 
judges.*' 

Thus  within  a  year  of  the  attacks  of  the  Tory  Respon- 
mob  on  Elgin,  and  the  burning  of  the  parliament   ^^^® 
house  at  Montreal,  the  success  which  had  been   ment 
achieved   by   Papineau   and   Mackenzie,   by  La-   ^^^^ed 
fontaine  and  Baldwin,  and  by  Durham,  Syden-  British 
ham,  Bagot,  and  Elgin,  was  beneficently  affecting   ^^^^^ 
British    colonies    on    three    continents.     Abiding   conti- 
foundations  were  also  being  laid  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  good  relations  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  dominions  that  were  manifested  to  the 
world  when  Germany  declared  war  in  1914. 
^  Egerton  and  Grant,  297. 

[145] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION    OF   CANADA 

Elgin's  Elgin,   who,   later  in   his   career,   was   British 

toCaiwda  ^"^^y    ^°    China,    and    viceroy    of    India,    was 

and  the      govemor-gcneral  of  Canada  from  1847  to  1854. 

®™^®       In  these  seven  years  —  years  of  political  turmoil, 

and  also  of  commercial  dislocation  and  depression 

due  to  the  sweeping  fiscal  reforms  of  1 846-1 847 

in  the  United  Kingdom  —  he  did  more  than  any 

governor-general  before  or  after  him  to  create  a 

political  civilization  for  Canada. 

He  did  much  also  to  establish  better  relations 
between  the  British  North  American  provinces 
and  the  United  States;  for  he  was  primarily 
responsible  for  the  much-valued  treaty  of  reci- 
procity with  the  United  States  that  was  in  force 
—  to  the  moral  and  material  advantage  of  both 
countries  —  from  1854  to  1866.  Elgin's  fame  as 
a  statesman  of  the  empire,  like  that  of  Durham 
and  Sydenham,  is  enduring.  It  will  survive  as 
long  as  the  history  of  Great  Britain's  oversea 
dominions  is  read.  Every  privy  council  chamber 
in  the  political  capitals  of  Canada,  Australia,  New 
Zealand,  South  Africa,  and  Newfoundland  is  a 
monument  to  Elgin's  achievements  of  1847-1854. 

IX.     The  Development  of  the  Political  Civiliza- 
tion of  Upper  and  Lower  Canada 

Aback-  The  extreme  poverty  of  the  political  civiliza- 

^utt»i  ^^^^  ^^  Upper  and  Lower  Canada  had  been 
civilization  revealed   to   the  world   by   Durham.     It  was   a 

backwoods  or  frontier  political  civilization.     Even 

as  such  it  was  inadequate. 

C146] 


EVOLUTION   FROM   1837  TO   1867 

In  Upper  Canada  the  men  who  were  active  in  Aneim 
political  life  —  unless  they  were  of  the  Family  ^^^^ 
Compact  group,  and  satisfied  with  conditions  as 
they  were  —  realized  this  poverty  quite  as  much 
as  Durham  had  done  when  he  was  in  Canada  in 
1838;  and  as  soon  as  the  question  of  responsible 
government  was  satisfactorily  settled  in  1849, 
there  began  an  era  of  political  development 
which  extended  from  1851  to  1866,  an  era  which 
is  without  parallel  in  the  nineteenth-century 
history  of  any  English-speaking  country. 

Even     before     the     disturbing     questions     of  Munid- 
responsible  government  and  the  relation  of  the   ^^^^_ 
state    to    religion    were   settled,   the   upbuilding  ment 
of  a  political  civilization   had   been  well    begun,   ^^^q^ 
County    and    municipal    government    had    been 
established  on  a  democratic  basis.     Systems  of 
public  education  —  one  for  Upper  Canada,  and 
another    for    the    French    province  —  had    been 
organized.     The  criminal  code  had  been  human- 
ized.    Postal  services  had  been  greatly  extended. 

The  adoption  of  free  trade  in  England  in  1846,   RaUways 
and  the  abandonment  of  the  old  British  colonial  J]J|^^g^ 
policy,    had    enabled    the    United    Provinces    to   navi- 
enact  their  own   customs  laws;    although   these   ^^^^ 
laws  were   not   for  the   protection   of  home   in- 
dustries until  1858.     Liberal  naturalization  laws 
had   been   enacted.     Government   aid   had   been 
given  to  railway  undertakings;   and  large  sums  of 
money  had  been  expended  on  road  construction, 
on  the  Welland  and    St.  Lawrence  canals,  and 

C  147] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION    OF   CANADA 


Clear 
Grits 
and 
Rouges 


Program 
of  the 
reformers 


Old  laws 
to  be 
repealed 


on  the  ship  channel  in  the  St.  Lawrence  that 
gives  access  to  Montreal  from  the  sea. 

All  this  work  was  going  on  before  responsible 
government  was  finally  achieved  in  1849.  With 
this  achievement  began  the  era  of  constitutional 
reform  that  continued  until  Confederation.  The 
reformers  were  Liberals  —  Rouges  as  they  were 
called  in  Lower  Canada,  Clear  Grits  in  Upper 
Canada.^ 

In  Upper  Canada,  where  pohtical  thought  was 
most  active  and  potent,  the  program  of  the 
reformers  in  1851  was  in  two  divisions.  In  the 
first  were  reforms  which  it  was  in  the  power 
of  the  legislature,  under  the  constitution  of  1840, 
to  make.  In  the  second  were  constitutional 
reforms,  which,  in  some  important  respects, 
could  only  be  made  by  the  legislature  after 
liberalizing  amendments  had  been  made  to  the 
constitution  by  parliament  at  Westminster. 

The  more  important  demands  in  the  first 
division  of  the  program  of  1851  were: 

I.  Simphfication  of  procedure  in  the  law 
courts. 


^  "  In  Canada  parties  have  been  known  by  different  names. 
We  have  had  Liberals  and  Conservatives,  Rouges  and  Blues, 
Grits  and  Tories,  and  for  a  short  period  under  Robert  Baldwin, 
Reformers.  It  was  in  185 1  that  Brown  fastened  on  that  sec- 
tion of  the  Reform  party  which,  under  Malcolm  Cameron, 
withdrew  its  confidence  from  the  Baldwin-Lafontaine  ministry, 
the  term  'Clear  Grits';  and  from  that  day  to  this  the  name 
Grits  has  been  used  colloquially  to  designate  the  Liberal 
party." — GazeUCy  Montreal,  October  15,  1917. 

C148] 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1837  TO   1867 

2.  Repeal  of  all  laws  conferring  special  privi- 
leges on  churches. 

3.  Reform  in  the  method  of  sale  of  crown 
lands. 

4.  Free  navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence  for  all 
nations. 

5.  Abolition  of  primogeniture,  which  had 
become  the  law  in  Upper  Canada,  when,  by  act 
of  its  legislature  in  1792,  English  law  had  been 
declared  the  law  of  the  province. 

6.  *  Abolition  of  customs  houses  and  duties  on 
imports. 

7.  Establishment  of  a  uniform  decimal  currency. 

In  the  second  part  of  the  program,  as  it  stood   Amend 
in  1851,  the  demands  were: 

1.  *  Election  of  the  governor. 

2.  An  elected  legislative  council. 

3.  Election  by  county  and  municipal  councils 
of  all  county  and  municipal  officers. 

4.  Abolition  of  the  property  qualification  for 
members  of  the  assembly,  created  by  the  imperial 
act  of  1840. 

5.  An  extension  of  the  electoral  franchise  — 
an  extension  that  would  bring  in  all  householders. 

6.  Vote  by  ballot. 

7.  *  Biennial  legislatures  with  a  fixed  term, 
instead  of  legislatures  of  uncertain  duration. 

8.  No  expenditure  of  public  money  without 
the  control  of  the  legislature. 

9.  Representation  according  to  population  — 
a  demand  which  developed  out  of  the  obvious 

C  149 1 


ments 
to  the 


tution 
of  1840 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

over-representation    of    Lower   Canada    in    the 
legislature  of  the  United  Provinces. 

10.  Abolition  of  pensions  to  government 
officials. 

11.  Canadian  commerce  and  commercial  inter- 
course with  other  nations  to  be  entirely  unde/? 
the  control  of  the  legislature.* 

12.  *The  legislature  to  have  power  to  alter  or 
repeal  any  act  or  charter,  imperial  or  otherwise, 
affecting  only  Canada,  which  the  imperial  parlia- 
ment itself  might  alter  or  repeal.* 

Reyivai         These  were  the  demands  of  the  Liberals  of 

If^T^      Upper  Canada  in  1851.     In  the  second  part  of 

popular      the  program  there  was  a  revival  of  the  demand 

ff^wa^^    of  the   reformers   of   1828-183 7   for   an   elected 

1837         instead  of  a  nominated  legislative  council;    and 

in   1852   another  of  these  earHer  demands  was 

revived  —  the    demand     for    the    exclusion    of 

judges  and  office  holders  from  the  legislature. 

Attitude         The    Conservatives    naturally    were    not    re- 

^^^        formers.     They  opposed  most  of  the  demands  in 

Conserv-  r  t  •    i 

ative party  the  program  of  1 85 1.  It  was,  however,  mamly 
with  the  Conservatives  of  Toronto,  Montreal, 
and     Hamilton  —  with     the     manufacturers    of 

1  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  movement  for  the  right  of 
Canada  to  make  her  own  commercial  treaties  —  the  movement 
that  achieved  complete  success  when  plenipotentiaries  named 
by  the  Laurier  government  of  1896-1911  negotiated  the 
reciprocity  treaty  with  France  of  1907. 

2  Cf.  Clarke,  65.  The  demands  marked  with  an  asterisk 
have  not  been  realized  and  have  not  been  pressed  since 
Confederation. 

[  150  ] 


EVOLUTION  FROM  1837  TO  1867 


these  cities  —  that  there  originated  in  1856- 
1857  a  movement  for  a  protective  tariff  for  the 
United  Provinces,  a  tariff  that  should  protect 
Canadian  manufacturers  against  both  British 
and  American  competition.  This  movement  was 
almost  immediately  successful. 

At  least  ten  of  the  reforms  were  realized  in  the 
era  of  great  political  activity  from  1851  to  1866. 
Others,  such  as  vote  by  ballot,  the  abolition  of 
tolls  on  the  Welland  and  the  St.  Lawrence  canals, 
representation  according  to  population,  and  the 
right  of  Canada  to  make  her  own  commercial 
treaties,  were  not  realized  until  after  Confedera- 
tion in  1867. 

Only  those  demands  which  entailed  amend- 
ments to  the  imperial  act  of  1840  are  of  paramount 
interest;  and  this  interest  is  chiefly  in  the  con- 
ciliatory spirit  in  which  governments  at  Whitehall, 
and  parliament  at  Westminster,  met  the  demands 
from  Canada  for  democratic  amendments  to  the 
constitution  of  1840,  and  for  amendments  to  other 
legislation  of  the  imperial  parliament  affecting 
Canada,  that  hindered  reforms  which  the  legis- 
lature was  prepared  to  undertake. 

There  were  four  of  these  amendments  in  the 
sixteen  years  that  the  constitution  of  1840  was  in 
force.  They  were  all  made  in  the  years  from 
1847  to  1854.  Two  of  the  most  important  — 
one  giving  the  legislature  a  free  hand  in  making 
a  final  settlement  of  the  clergy  reserves  question, 
and  the  other  bestowing  large  powers  on  it  for 


Reforms 
that  were 
effected 
before 
Confed- 
eration 


Conces- 


madeat 
West- 
minster 


Amend- 
ments to 
the 

act  of  the 
imperial 
parlia- 
ment 
of  1840 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

reforming    its    own    constitution  —  were    made 

while  Elgin  was  governor-general. 
Increased       These    two    amendments   were   made    by   the 
^^'^f^      imperial  parliament  at  Elgin's  request,  or  at  any 

granted  .  i  ,  ri  i- 

to  the         rate  they  were  made  at  the  request  or  the  cabmet 
TriiS-to    ^^ ^^^  United  Provinces,  with  the  cordial  approval 
of  Elgin.     By  these  four  amendments  parliament 
at  Westminster  parted  with  control  it  had  exer- 
cised over  Canada,   and   by  so  doing  increased 
appreciably  the  power  of  the  legislature  of  the 
United  Provinces. 
Civuust         The  first  amendment,  enacted  at  Westminster 
and  the      '^^  1 84?,  removed  the  restrictions  in  the  constitu- 

consoli-  ii' 

dated  tion  of  1840  on  the  civil  list  and  the  consolidated 
*^*^  fund.  These  restrictions  had  been  imposed  on 
account  of  the  serious  difficulties  that  arose  in 
1 83 3-1 83 7,  when  the  legislative  assembly  of 
Lower  Canada  refused  to  pass  money  bills. 
The  new  legislature  of  the  United  Provinces 
chafed  under  these  restrictions;  and  apparently 
without  a  word  of  opposition  in  parliament  at 
Westminster,  they  were  all  removed,  and  thence- 
forward the  legislature  was  as  free  as  the  im- 
perial parliament  in  the  appropriation  of  public 
money. 
Use  of  the  A  Valuable  concession  was  made  to  Lower 
French      Canada  by  the  second  amendment,  made  in  1848. 

Ian  mi  a  ATA  "^  " 

French-Canadians  were  aggrieved  by  the  pro- 
vision in  the  constitution  that  all  legislative  and 
state  documents,  which  were  to  be  of  record,  must 
be  in  English.     Copies  of  these  documents  might 


language 


EVOLUTION   FROM    1837  TO   1867 

be  printed  in  French,  but  these  copies  were  not 
to  be  of  official  record. 

By  the  amendment  of  1848,  without  opposition 
in  either  the  house  of  commons  or  the  house  of 
lords,  a  greater  use  of  the  French  language  was 
conceded.  The  amendment,  in  fact,  gave  to 
the  legislature  —  in  practice  to  each  house  — 
power  to  make  such  regulations  as  to  the  use  of 
French  as  might  seem  desirable.  It  was  an 
amendment  that  was  in  train  before  Elgin  became 
governor-general.  Apparently  Metcalfe  had 
urged  it;  and  Gladstone,  during  his  short  tenure 
of  the  office  of  colonial  secretary  in  Peel's  second 
administration,  had  promised  that  parliament 
should  be  asked  to  enact  it. 

Elgin  welcomed   the  new   freedom  in  the  use   Papi- 
of  French;    for  in   1 847-1 848  Papineau  was  agi-   °^^"'^ 
tating  in  Lower  Canada  against  the  restrictions   agitation 
of  1840  on  the  use  of  the  French  language;    and 
Elgin  was,  moreover,  convinced  of  the  impolicy 
of    all    attempts    to    denationalize    the    French- 
Canadians. 

"Generally   speaking,"   wrote   Elgin   to   Grey,   Elgin's 
"all  such  attempts  produce  the  opposite  effect  ^^^'^ 
from  that  intended,  causing  the  flame  of  national   French 
prejudice  and    animosity  to  burn  more  fiercely.    ^*^*^ 
But  suppose  them  to  be  successful,  what  would 
be  the  result.?     You  may  perhaps  Americanize, 
but  depend  upon  it  by  methods  of  this  description 
you  will  never  Anglicize  the  French  inhabitants 
of  the  province.     Let  them  feel,  on  the  other 

[153] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

hand,  that  their  religion,  their  habits,  their 
prepossessions,  their  prejudices  if  you  will,  are 
more  considered  and  respected  here  than  in  other 
portions  of  this  vast  continent,  who  will  venture 
to  say  that  the  last  hand  that  waves  the  British 
flag  on  American  ground  may  not  be  that  of  a 
French-Canadian?"  ^ 
French  Here  again  "our  only  neighbor,"  to  use  Cart- 

Sdto^      Wright's  phrase,  influenced  British  policy  towards 
United       Canada.     Obviously  it  was  Elgin's  purpose  that 
states        conditions  for  French-Canadians  should  be  such 
that  they  would  realize  the  advantage  of  British 
supremacy.     They  would  realize  that  the  institu- 
tions   they    cherished  —  language,    church,    and 
schools  —  had  a  greater  likelihood  of  permanency 
within  the  British  Empire  than  if  Lower  Canada 
should  become  a  state  of  the  adjoining  republic. 
Speech  Elgin    spoke    French   with    ease    and    fluency. 

He  addressed  meetings  in  French  as  well  as  in 
English  during  the  first  year  of  his  governorship; 
and  when  the  legislature  assembled  at  Montreal, 
in  January,  1849,  he  took  advantage  of  the  new 
amendment  to  the  constitution  to  deliver  the 
speech  from  the  throne  in  the  chamber  of  the 
legislative  council  in  French  as  well  as  in  English. 
This  was  an  innovation  so  far  as  the  legislature 
of  the  United  Provinces  was  concerned.  It  was 
disliked  by  the  Tories;  but  it  established  a  usage 
which  is  followed  to  this  day  at  the  opening  and 
proroguing  of  parliament  at  Ottawa. 
1  Walrond,  ibid.,  54. 
[154] 


from  the 
throne  in 


and  in 
French 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1837  TO   1867 

The  British  act  of  1853  which  empowered  the   a  final 
legislature  of  the  United   Provinces  to  make   a    ^**^f- 

1  r     I  1  mentof 

complete  settlement  or  the  clergy  reserves,  was   the 
not  an  amendment  to  the  constitution  of  1840.    ^^^'^ 

•  reserves 

It  repealed  an  act,  passed  by  parliament  in  1840,  question 
which  authorized  the  legislature  to  rearrange  the 
clergy  reserves  scheme  of  1791,^  and  to  divide 
the  proceeds  of  the  lands  among  all  the  Christian 
churches,  the  larger  shares  to  be  assigned  to  the 
Episcopal  church  of  England  and  the  Presby- 
terian church  of  Scotland. 

In  1 85 1  the  government  of  the  United   Prov-   "dis- 
inces    was    desirous   to   sweep    away    the  whole   *^^ 
system.     Since    18 19   the   system   had    been,    as   and 
Sydenham  described  it  in  1840,  "the  perpetual   ^*^«^" 
spring  of  discord,  strife,  and  hatred."     But  the 
legislature  could  take  no  step  in  this  direction 
with  the  imperial  act  of  1840  in  eflPect,  and  it 
accordingly  petitioned  the  government  at  West- 
minster for  the  repeal  of  the  law. 

A   coalition   government  —  Conservatives   and   The 
Whigs — with  the  Earl  of  Aberdeen  as  premier, 
and  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  as  colonial  secretary,   in' 
was    in    power   in    1853,    when    parliament   was   ^"*" 
asked  to  repeal  the  act  of  1840.     The  petition 

*  After  the  establishment  of  the  clergy  reserves  by  the 
imperial  act  of  1791  an  attempt  was  made  in  Upper  Canada 
to  establish  the  tithe  system,  as  it  then  existed  in  connection 
with  the  Episcopalian  church  in  England  and  Wales  and  in 
Ireland.  The  legislature,  however,  ended  this  attempt  in 
1821.    Cf.  Statutes  of  Upper  Canada,  1821,  ch.  32. 

C  135 1 


amend- 
ing bill 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

asked  the  transfer  to  the  legislature  of  Canada 
of  the  power  of  dealing  with  these  reserves.^ 

The  bill,  unlike  the  bills  of  1847  and  1848, 
amending  the  constitution  of  1840,  met  with 
opposition  in  both  the  house  of  commons  and 
the  house  of  lords.  In  the  commons,  the  strongest 
opposition  came  from  Sir  John  Pakington,  who 
had  been  secretary  for  the  colonies  in  the  Con- 
servative administration  of  February-December, 
1852.  Wilberforce,  Bishop  of  Oxford,  was  its 
most  resolute  opponent  in  the  house  of  lords. 
But  it  was  carried  in  both  houses;  and  the  only 
restriction  imposed  in  the  new  law  on  the  action 
of  the  legislature  was  a  clause  protecting  the  life 
interest  of  beneficiaries  under  the  act  of  1840. 
End  of  The  legislature  of  the  United  Provinces  lost  no 

the  con-  xiimt  in  exercising  the  power  thus  conferred  upon 
between  it.  In  fact,  it  had  been  waiting  since  1851  for 
church       authority    to     proceed.     A     settlement    of    the 

and  state  •'  *^  .  . 

clergy  reserves  question  was  made  m  1854.  All 
connection  between  church  and  state  was  then 
ended;  and  in  connection  with  this  Canadian 
bill,  there  was  an  incident  in  the  house  of  com- 
mons which  illustrates  the  new  attitude  of 
parliament  and  government  at  Westminster 
towards  colonial  legislation. 

A  member  of  the  house  of  commons  had  moved 
that  a  copy  of  the  bill  of  185 1  of  the  legislature  of 
the  United  Provinces  be  laid  on  the  table  of  the 

^  Cf.  Speech  by  Sir  William  Molesworth,  H.  C,  March  4, 
1853. 

[156] 


EVOLUTION   FROM    1837  TO   1867 


house.     Sir  George  Grey  was  then  colonial  secre-  Pariia- 
tary  in  the  Aberdeen  administration.     Usually  a   ™^* 
motion  of  this  kind  is  complied  with  at  once,   freedom 
But  Grey  moved  that  the  motion  be  discharged.    °**^® 
The  government  had  no  copy  of  the  bill.     No   vinciai 
copy    had    been    forwarded    by    the    governor-   |®^' 
general;   "and,"  added  Grey,  "if  the  government 
should  write  to  the  colony  for  a  copy,  it  would 
look  like  interference  on  their  part  with  a  measure 
pending  before  the  colonial  legislature."  ^ 

X.     Democratic  Amendments  at  Westminster 
to  the  Constitution  of  1840 

The  most  important  of  the  democratic  amend-  Parlia- 
ments to  the  constitution  of  1840  were  made  in   ™®^* 

'  sxir- 

1854.  At  the  instance  of  the  Aberdeen  govern-  renders 
ment,  parliament  then  empowered  the  legislature  '^^®*° 
of  the  United  Provinces  to  make  radical  changes 
in  its  constitution.  At  the  same  time  parliament 
surrendered  a  right,  under  the  constitution  of 
1840,  to  a  veto  on  certain  bills  enacted  by  the 
legislature. 

These  bills  were  measures  concerning  religion   ReUgion 
and  crown  lands.     In  the  event  of  the  legislature   "^^ 

1  •  1  1  r      1         crown 

passmg  such  measures  it  was  the  duty  of  the  lands 
governor-general  to  reserve  them.  They  were 
sent  to  Westminster.  Copies  of  them  must  lie 
for  thirty  days  on  the  tables  of  the  house  of 
commons  and  the  house  of  lords;  and  in  these 
thirty  days  it  was  open  to  any  member  of  parlia- 
^  Sir  George  Grey,  H.  C,  December  19,  1854. 

L1572 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

ment  to  move  for  an  address  to  the  Queen  praying 
her  to  withhold  the  royal  assent.     In  any  case 
there  could  be  no  royal  assent  until  the  bills  had 
thus  been  before  parliament  for  thirty  days. 
New  At  this  time  —  185 2-1 854  —  the  legislature  of 

powers      ^j^g    United    Provinces    was    intent    on    several 
sought  .  ....  ,     . 

by  the  retorms  to  its  constitution.  It  was  desirous 
legislature  (j)  that  part  of  the  members  of  the  legislative 
council  should  be  directly  elected;  (2)  that  there 
should  be  an  elected  speaker  of  the  council, 
instead  of  a  speaker  nominated  by  the  governor- 
general  —  in  practice  by  the  government;  (3)  that 
a  property  qualification  should  not  be  required 
for  election  to  the  assembly;  and  (4)  that  the 
legislature  should  have  power  to  increase  the 
number  of  members  of  the  assembly,  unrestrained 
by  a  section  in  the  constitution  of  1840,  which 
provided  that  such  an  increase  could  be  made 
only  by  a  two-thirds  majority  in  each  branch  of 
the  legislature. 
Oppo-  The  Aberdeen  government  was  quite  ready  to 

sition        amend  the  act  of  1840  as  the  legislature  desired, 
leader       It    was    willing,    as    was    bitterly    protested    by 
°^^®        Stanley,   now  Earl  of  Derby,  to  agree  to  "an 
ative         absolute  subversion  of  the  present  constitution"; 
^J^**     willing  to  make  a  "change  from  the  present  form 
minster      of  a  limited  monarchy  into  what  would  be  practi- 
cally and  absolutely  a  democratical  government."  ^ 
As  Newcastle,  the  colonial  secretary,  was  of  the 
house  of  lords,  the  bill  making  these  changes  was 

1  H.  L.  Debates,  June  22,  1854. 


EVOLUTION   FROM   1837  TO   1867 

introduced  in  the  upper  house  at  Westminster.  Aberdeen 

In    acquainting    the  house   with    its    provisions,  ^J*™" 

Newcastle    described    the    changes    desired,    and  grants 

intimated  that  when  the  Aberdeen  government  *"*^® 

r     1        1       •  1  1  conces- 

acceded  to  the  petition  of  the  legislature  three   sions 
courses  were  open  to  it:  ^^^^ 

The  government  could  have  (i)  adopted  a  legis- 
draft  measure  making  these  changes  in  the  ^*^® 
constitution  of  the  legislature,  which  had  been 
sent  over  from  Canada,  and  by  following  this 
course  parliament  at  Westminster  would  have 
settled  the  question  for  Canada;  (2)  it  could  have 
asked  the  legislature  to  pass  and  send  to  West- 
minster a  bill  making  these  changes,  which 
could  be  confirmed  by  imperial  act;  or  (3)  govern- 
ment could  ask  parliament  to  repeal  the  sections 
of  the  constitution  of  1840  which  prevented  the 
legislature  from  making  the  desired  changes 
itself. 

"To  have  adopted  the  first  course,"  Newcastle   "un- 
told the  house  of  lords,   "would  have  been   at   1°^^^^ 
variance  with  those  principles  of  colonial  govern-   legis- 
ment   which    I    have    endeavored    to    carry   out   ^^^^f 
during   the   time   I   have   held   the   seals   of  the   years" 
colonial  office."     "The  proper  course  to  pursue," 
he  continued,   "is   to  legislate  no  more  for  the 
colonies  than  we  can   possibly  help.     Indeed,   I 
believe  that  the  only  legislation  now  required  by 
the  colonies  consists  in  undoing  the  bad  legisla- 
tion of  former  years."  ^ 

1  H.  L.  Debates,  June  15,  1854. 

[  159] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Failure  Newcastle,     by    inference,    thus    classed    the 

no^taated  '"^^y  restraining  clauses  of  the  constitution  of 
legislative   1840  as  "bad  legislation";    and  in  defending  the 
^^^^       amendment   which    conceded    to   the    legislature 
liberty    to    reform    the    legislative    council,    he 
admitted  that  the  nominated  legislative  council 
had    been    a    failure.     "It    does    not,"    he    said, 
"exercise  that  due  influence  in  the  colony  or  the 
legislature  which  it  ought  to  possess.*' 
Nomi-  Furthermore,   the  legislative   council,   as   then 

to^r*      constituted,  was  so  little  esteemed  that  difficulty 
councu       had  been  experienced  in  finding  men  who  were 
refused      billing  to   accept   appointments  to  it.     "It  has 
fallen,"    added   Newcastle,    "into   disfavor   with 
the  colonists  to  such   an  extent  that  men  have 
frequently   expressed   their   repugnance   and   un- 
willingness, and  in  many  instances  their  positive 
refusal,  to  enter  the  legislative  council."  ^ 
Oppo-  Opposition   to   these   democratic   changes   was 

^^°         strongest    and    most    persistent    in    the    lords, 
amend-      Derby,  who  was  at  this  time  leader  of  the  Con- 
j^^^      servative    party,    was    anxious    to    retain    direct 
lords         control  by  parliament  at  Westminster  over  the 
legislature    of  the    United    Provinces.     He    was 
intent    on    retaining    some    of    the    restraining 
sections  of  the  act  of  1840.     But  only  39  peers 
voted  with  him  —  39  to  63  —  when  he  divided 
the  house  at  second  reading  of  the  bill. 

In  the  house  of  commons  the  opposition  lacked 
the  spirited  lead,  the  vigor,  and  the  persistence 
1  H.  L.  Debates,  June  15,  1854. 

C160] 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1837  TO   1867 

of  the  opposition  in  the  lords.     The  bill,  com-   No 
prehensive  and  far-reaching  as  it  was,  was  enacted   ^°^^ 
in  the  form  in  which  it  had  been  introduced  by   sition 
Newcastle,  whose  name  five  years  later  was  to   ^^_® 
be  associated  with   another  great  concession  to   mons 
political    agitation    in    Canada  —  the    concession 
to   the   legislature   of  the   right   to   make   what 
tariffs  it  pleased. 

In  its  exercise  of  its  new  powers  under  the  im-   a  partly 
perial  acts  of  1854,  the  legislature  of  the  United   ^^^^^^^ 
Provinces    in    1856   enacted    a   law   for   the  ad-   lative 
dition    of    elected    members    to    the    legislative   ^^'^^ 
council.     The  franchise  on  which  these  members 
were   elected   was   the   same   as   that   on   which 
members  of  the  assembly  were  chosen.     It  was  a 
prerequisite  to  election  that  a  candidate  should 
be  the  owner  of  real  estate  to  the  value  of  £2000, 
over    and    above    all    incumbrances    and    debts. 
There   was   also   a   provision   in   the   law  which 
excluded  clergymen  of  the  churches  of  England, 
of  Scotland,    and   of  Rome.     The   term   of  the 
elected  members  was  eight  years. 

Forty-eight  new  electoral  divisions  —  twenty-  New 
four  in  Upper  Canada  and  twenty-four  in  Lower  ^^^1°^^^ 
Canada  —  were  created  by  the  act  of  1856. 
But  all  these  electoral  areas  were  not  to  elect 
councilors  at  once.  The  forty-eight  new  members 
were  to  be  gradually  introduced;  and  lots  were 
drawn  to  determine  which  divisions  should  form 
the  groups  to  elect  first.  There  were  only  two 
elections  between  1856  and  Confederation,  when 

[16.] 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

the  total  number  of  the  council  —  nominated  and 
elected  —  stood  at  forty-eight.     Of  these  twenty- 
three  had  been  appointed,  and  twenty-five  were 
of  the  council  by  popular  election.^ 
Extent  With  the  enactment  by  the  imperial  parliament 

of  the        Qf  ^j^g  amending  law  of  1854,  about  all  that  now 

COuCcS* 

sionsof  remained  to  the  government  at  Westminster  in 
lft?~  connection  with  the  administration  of  the  United 
Provinces  was  the  appointment  of  the  governor- 
general.  It  will  be  recalled  that  the  provinces 
had  enjoyed  the  right  to  frame  their  own  customs 
tariffs  since  1847;  and  in  that  year  also,  it  may 
be  added,  as  a  result  of  the  thoroughgoing  re- 
vision of  the  old  navigation  code  by  parliament 
at  Westminster  the  United  Provinces  obtained 
the  right  to  make  their  own  coastwise  navigation 
laws  as  regards  the  Great  Lakes  and  other  inland 
waters. 
Great  In  the  fourteen  years  from  1840  to  1854,  Great 

Britain       Britain  had  frankly  and  completely  surrendered 

respon-  .  •;  .  . 

sibie         to  the  United  Provinces  all  the  rights  which  were 
forthe       Qj^^g    considered    a    necessary    condition    to    the 

defense  .  ,  ... 

of  holding    of    colonies.     Great    Britain,    in    those 

Canada  years,  was,  as  she  is  today,  responsible  for  the 
defense  of  Canada.  "She  guards  our  coasts, 
she  maintains  our  troops,  she  builds  our  forts, 
and  she  spends  hundreds  of  thousands  among  us 
yearly."  So  Canadians  were  reminded  in  1851 
by  George  Brown,  leader  of  the  Liberal  party  in 

*  Of.  Statutes  of  U.  P.,  19  and  20  Vict.,  ch.  100;  Mackenzie, 
"Life  and  Speeches  of  George  Brown,"  308. 

C162] 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1837  TO   1867 

Upper  Canada,  when  there  was  an  agitation 
against  the  payment  of  the  salary  of  the  governor- 
general  from  the  treasury  of  the  United  Prov- 
inces.^ 

Except  as  regards  the  navy  these  direct  burdens   Growth 
of  Great  Britain  were  gradually  reduced.     Most   ^^^^^ 
of  them,  in  fact,  were  entirely  removed  in  the   pro- 
forty-seven  years  from  Confederation  to  the  great   ^^ 
war.     But  while  still  carrying  all  this  responsi-   lature 
bility,  while  still  defraying  the  cost  of  patrolling 
the  coasts,  the  expense  of  troops  in  Canada,  and 
the  maintenance  of  forts   at   Kingston,  Quebec, 
and    Halifax,    Great    Britain    conceded    to    the 
United    Provinces    (i)    responsible    government; 
(2)  the  patronage  of  the  crown;    (3)  control  over 
crown  lands;    (4)  control  over  the  civil  list;  (5) 
the  customs;    (6)  the  post  office;    (7)  the  clergy 
reserves;    (8)   freedom  from  the  old  navigation 
laws;    and  (9)  liberty  to  the  legislature,  as  great 
as  was  then,  or  at  any  time,  enjoyed  by  parlia- 
ment at  Westminster,  to  change  its  constitution, 
and  greater  than  has  ever  been  enjoyed  directly 
by  congress  at  Washington. 

In  this  period  Great  Britain  also  obtained  for   Privi- 

the  United  Provinces  the  right  to  the  free  navi-   ^®^®^ 

gation  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  in  the  years  from   ceded 

1854  to   1866  secured  for  all  the  British  North   ^  ^. 

.  .  .  .  .  Washing- 

American  provinces,  except  British  Columbia,  the   ton  to 

advantages   of  commercial   reciprocity  with   the   c*^<^ 

United  States. 

*  Mackenzie,  "  Life  of  George  Brown,"  50. 

[163] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

XL     The  Unwritten  Constitution  of  the  United 
Provinces  as  Developed  from  1841  to  18 ^q 

Canada's        Most  of  these  conccssions,  as  well  as  two  others 
^^  ^^     still  to  be  mentioned,  were  based  on  acts  of  the 

from   the     . 

adoption     imperial    parliament.     Three   of  them  —  control 

frd"b       °^   customs,    freedom    from    the    old    navigation 

Great        laws,  and  liberty  to  enjoy  commercial  reciprocity 

Britain       ^j^-j^   ^j^g   United   States  —  resulted   from   Great 

Britain's    adoption   of  free   trade   in    1846,    and 

from    the    liberalizing     amendment,     made    by 

parliament  in  1846,  to  what  was  known  in  the 

old  colonial  code  as  the  British  possessions  act  of 

1845.^     Freedom  of  navigation  of  Lake  Michigan, 

an  exclusively  American  lake,  was  secured  by  a 

treaty    negotiated    by    Great    Britain    with    the 

United  States. 

Powers  Three  rights,  however,  were  assumed  by  the 

assumed     legislature    of    the    United     Provinces    between 

by  the 

legis-  1 84 1  and  1859  for  which  usage  was  the  only 
lature  basis.  For  these  rights,  so  long  as  the  constitu- 
tion of  1840,  as  amended  by  parliament  at 
Westminster  in  1854,  was  in  operation,  no  act 
of  the  imperial  parliament  could  be  cited  as  the 
authority  on  which  the  legislature  and  govern- 
ment proceeded. 

In  the  order  in  which  they  were  assumed,  these 
rights  were  (i)  the  right  of  the  legislature  to 
insist  on  an  executive  or  cabinet  which  was  sup- 

^  Cf.  Porritt,  "Sixty  Years  of  Protection  in  Canada,'* 
188-189;  8-9  Vict.  ch.  93;   and  9-10  Vict,  ch,  94. 

:  164  ] 


EVOLUTION   FROM    1837  TO   1867 

ported  by  a  majority  in  the  legislative  assembly 

—  1 841-1849;  ^  (2)  the  right  of  the  legislature 
to  exercise  the  same  power  that  parliament  at 
Westminster  then  exercised  in  matrimonial  causes 

—  in  other  words  divorce  cases,  1853;  and  (3)  the 
right  of  the  legislature  to  enact  protective  tariffs 
without  interference  from  Whitehall,  1859. 

XII.     The  Legislature  of  the  United  Provinces 
Assumes  Control  over  Divorce 

The    right    of   the    legislature    of   the    United   Matri- 

Provinces  to  grant  relief  in  matrimonial  causes   ™° 

'-'  ^  causes 

would  seem  to  have  been  assumed  in  1853.^ 
Parliament  at  Westminster  exercised  this  right 
from  1 55 1  to  1857,  when  the  divorce  court  in 
London  was  created.^ 

Not    more    than    four    or    five    divorce    bills  Five 
were  enacted    by  the   legislature  of   the  United   g^[^*®* 
Provinces  from  1853  to  Confederation.     But  at   without 
Confederation  it  was  not  practicable,  owing  to   J°^*^ 
the   opposition    of   Catholic   Lower   Canada,    to   matri- 
follow   the    example    of   England    of   1857,    and   ""^^^ 

*  The  history  of  the  struggle  by  which  responsible  govern- 
ment was  won  has  already  been  recounted. 

2  The  legislature  of  Upper  Canada,  in  the  last  year  of  its 
existence,  1840,  had  enacted  a  divorce  bill  in  the  interest  of 
John  Stuart,  of  London,  in  that  province.  Cf.  Statutes  of 
Upper  Canada,  3  Vict.,  ch.  Ixxii.  This  was,  as  far  as  can  be 
ascertained,  the  only  divorce  bill  enacted  by  the  legislature 
of  Upper  Canada  during  the  forty-nine  years  of  its  existence. 

'  Cf.  Clifford,  "A  History  of  Private  Bill  Legislation," 
I,  389-391. 

C165] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

delegate  all  matrimonial  causes  to  the  courts  in 
all  the  provinces.  By  a  usage,  the  origin  of  which 
has  thus  been  described,  it  comes  about  that 
today  petitioners  for  divorce  in  Ontario,  Quebec, 
Manitoba,  Saskatchewan,  and  Alberta  —  the  five 
provinces  in  which  courts  with  jurisdiction  in 
divorce  cases  have  never  been  established  — 
must  go  for  relief  to  parliament  at  Ottawa.^ 

XIII.     The  Fiscal  Freedom  of  the  United 
Provinces 

Protec-  The  right  to  enact  protective  tariffs  without 

^g        interference    from    Westminster  —  tariffs    which 
against      might  be  detrimental  to  the  commercial  interests 
toTOrts      ^^  ^^^  United  Kingdom,  but  which  were  regarded 
as  in  the  interest  of  the  United  Provinces  —  was 
first  asserted  by  the  legislature  in  1858.     After 
one  strongly  worded   protest  from  the  colonial 
office    the    right   was    conceded    by   the    British 
government  in  1859. 
Influence        Once  again  in  the  period  between  the  rebellions 
Ajnerican    ^^  Lower  and  Upper  Canada  and  Confederation, 
tariff  of      but  not  for  the  last  time  in  these  twenty-nine 
^®*^         years,    American    influence    and    example    had 
weight  in  determining  policies  in  Canada;    and 
in  this  instance  in  affecting  also  policies  of  colo- 
nial governments  in  Australia  and  New  Zealand. 

It  was  the  development  of  manufacturing  in 
New  England   and  in  other  states  adjacent  to 

*  Cf.  Sinclair,  "Rules  and  Practice  before  the  Parliament 
of  Canada  upon  Bills  of  Divorce,"  1-3. 

[166] 


EVOLUTION   FROM    1837  TO    1867 

Canada,  under  the  United  States  tariff  of  1842, 
that  gave  the  impetus  at  Hamilton,  Toronto,  and 
Montreal  to  the  protectionist  movement.^  The 
movement  had  its  origin  at  Hamilton  in  1847. 
It  resulted  in  the  enactment  in  1858  by  the  legis- 
lature of  the  United  Provinces  of  what  is  known 
in  Canadian  fiscal  history  as  the  Cayley  tariff. 

The  Cayley  tariff  takes  its  name  from  the  c«yiey 
minister  who  framed  it  and  piloted  it  through  *"^ 
the  legislative  assembly,  where  in  accordance  with 
British  constitutional  procedure  all  money  bills 
originated.  It  was  a  frankly  protectionist  tariff 
—  the  first  tariff  to  protect  domestic  manufacturers 
enacted  in  any  of  the  British  North  American 
provinces,  or  in  any  colony  that  is  now  of  the 
dominions. 

The  measure  superseded  the  tariff  of  the 
United  Provinces  of  1856.  In  this  tariff — a 
tariff  exclusively  for  revenue  —  the  general  range 
of  duties  on  manufactured  goods,  imported 
either  from  the  United  Kingdom  or  the  United 
States,  was  fifteen  per  cent.  Only  in  a  few 
instances  were  the  duties  on  these  imports  as 
high  as  twenty  per  cent. 

In  the  Cayley  tariflF  the  general  range  of  duties   Compari- 

1  TA    ^*  son  with 

was   increased   to   twenty    per   cent.     Duties    as    American 
high    as    twenty-five    per   cent    were    levied    on    tariflf 
boots,  shoes,  harness,  and  saddlery,  on  leather, 
clothing,    and    wearing    apparel.     These    duties 

»  Cf.  Edward  Porritt,  "  Canada's  National  Policy,"  Political 
Science  Quarterly,  June,  1917,  197-208. 

[167] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

were  nearly  as  high  and  as  protective  as  those  in 

the  United  States  tariff  of  1842. 
First  anti-       There  was  no  concealment  by  the  government 
dumping    q£  ^YiQ  United  Provinces  of  the  character  of  the 

clause  .fy.       ^  .       . 

new  tariff.  Protectionist  arguments  were  ad- 
vanced from  the  treasury  bench  in  the  assembly 
in  support  of  the  higher  duties.  In  particular 
when  objection  was  made  to  the  increased  duty 
,  on  soap,  a  duty  in  the  interest  of  a  factory  in 
Montreal,  Rose,  the  attorney-general,  assured 
the  house  that  the  change  was  made  because  the 
Canadian  market  was  flooded  with  the  refuse 
soap  of  British  manufacturers,  which  was  entered 
at  the  customs  house  at  prices  below  those  at 
which  soap  had  ever  been  sold  in  the  United 
Kingdom.^ 
Tory  By  this   time,    1858,   the  name   "Tory"   was 

^**^         disappearing  from  the  phraseology  of  Canadian 

assumes  .   .'^  °  *  °-^ . 

anew  politics.  It  began  to  be  dropped  in  1855,  after 
the  Liberals,  or  "Grits,''  as  they  were  called, 
had  carried  to  success  their  agitation  against  the 
clergy  reserves.  The  new  name  of  the  Tories 
was  "Liberal-Conservatives."  The  name  was 
coined  by  a  Tory  newspaper  —  the  Spectator,  of 
Hamilton  —  which  was  convinced  that  there  was 
no  future  in  Canada  for  a  political  party  living 
on  the  Bourbon  Toryism  of  the  United  Empire 
Loyalists,  or  of  the  Family  Compact,  hopelessly 
struggling  for  ascendancy  in  church  and  state. 

1  Cf.    Porritt,   "  Sixty   Years  of  Protection  in  Canada," 
228-230. 

[168] 


name 


EVOLUTION   FROM    1837  TO   1867 

Hamilton  had  been  the  center  of  the  movement  Father 
fortheprotectionist  tariff  of  1858.     The  Spectator,   °'^®^ 
to  which  Isaac  Buchanan,  the  father  of  what  has   National 
been  known  in  Canada  since  1879  as  the  National   ^°"^^ 
Policy,   was   a   frequent   contributor,   had   given 
the    new    movement    its    energetic    support.     It 
accordingly    welcomed    the    Cayley    tariff   with 
enthusiasm;    and  in  expressing  this  welcome  it 
acknowledged   that   the   United    Provinces   were 
following  the  example  of  the  United  States. 

"The  free  traders,  so  called,"  wrote  the  Specta-  Following 
tor,  "  have  been  worsted,  and  they  have  probably  ^^^ 
learned  by  this  time  that  their  nostrums  are  by 
no  means  palatable  to  the  people  of  this  country. 
Though  this  country  is  not,  and  we  trust  never 
will  be,  republican,  its  material  interests  are  the 
same  as  those  of  our  repubHcan  neighbors.  Can- 
ada, therefore,  wants  no  untried  theory  of  trade 
and  industry,  seeing  that  we  have  the  actual  and 
dearly  bought  experience  of  the  United  States."  ^ 

No  halt  in  the  protectionist  movement  followed  Aiex- 
the  success  of  1858.  In  August  of  that  year  ^^ 
Cayley  was  succeeded  by  Alexander  Gait.  The 
new  minister  of  finance  was  a  man  of  much  force, 
independence,  and  individuality,  who  afterwards 
achieved  wide  fame  as  one  of  the  fathers  of  Con- 
federation. He  was  also  one  of  the  earliest  and 
most  resourceful  protagonists  of  the  movement 
for  complete  liberty  for  Canada  to  make  her  own 
commercial  treaties.  "Canada  first,"  was  Gait's 
^  Spectator,  Hamilton,  July  30,  1858. 

C169] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

conception  of  the  duty  of  a  Canadian  statesman, 

both  before  and  after  Confederation. 

Gait's  Gait  was  ready  and  willing  to  concede  more 

J^°*      protection     to     Canadian     manufacturers.      He 

framed  the  tariff  of  1859  with  this  intent;    and 

it  was  this  tariff  that  brought  Gait  into  conflict 

with  Newcastle,  who  in  1859  was  again  colonial 

secretary  —  this  time  in  the  Palmerston-Russell 

Whig  administration  of  1 859-1 866. 

Governor-       Elgin  had  retired  in  1854.     He  had  been  suc- 

generai's    ^^^^^^  ^    gj^  Edmund  Walker  Head.    In  forward- 

helpless-      .  . 

ness  ing  the  new  tariff  to  the  colonial  office,  Head  ex- 

pressed regret  at  its  protectionist  features.  "  But," 
he  added,  "I  must  necessarily  leave  the  represen- 
tatives of  the  people  in  parhament  to  adopt  the 
mode  of  raising  supplies  which  they  believe  to  be 
the  most  beneficial  to  the  constituencies." 
Gait's  Gait  had  anticipated  that  he  would  come  into 

^®°se    conflict  with  the  free  trade  government  at  White- 
traders  in   hall  over  the  new  tariff.    This  may  be  inferred 
England     from  the  speech  in  which  he  introduced  his  bill 
to  the  assembly  in  March,  1859. 

The  policy  pursued  with  regard  to  taxation  in  this  country 
—  he  then  said  —  has  been  objected  to  in  England.  But  I  am 
perfectly  certain  that  this  house  will  never  permit  any  other 
body  to  interfere  with  its  proper  right  to  determine  what 
shall  be  the  amount  and  mode  in  which  taxes  shall  be  put 
upon  the  people.  Canada  has  adopted  the  protective  policy; 
and  it  is  scarcely  fair  for  parties  in  England  to  criticize  our 
policy,  when  in  point  of  fact  the  greater  part  of  our  debt  was 
incurred  when  they  had  a  protective  policy  in  England.^ 

*  Globe,  Toronto,  March  14,  1859. 
C170] 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1837  TO   1867 

British  manufacturers  promptly  and  energeti-   Protests 
cally  protested  to  the  colonial  office  against  the   ^ 
increased    duties    in    the    Gait    tariff,    especially   manu- 
against  increases  in  the  iron  and  steel  schedule,   '^cturers 
which,  as  they  asserted,  would  divert  much  of 
the  trade  of  Sheffield  with  the  United  Provinces 
to  the  United  States. 

Newcastle  was   a   free   trader.     He   had    sup-   New- 
ported  Peel  in  1846  when,  as  Earl  of  Lincoln,  he   ^^*'®^ 
was  a  member  of  the  house  of  commons.     His   the 
sympathies  were  consequently  with  the  protesting   ^^^ 
manufacturers.     In  principle  he  was  opposed  to  facturers 
the    upbuilding    of    a    protectionist    system    in 
Canada.     This  he  made  clear  to  the  governor- 
general   in    a   dispatch   dated  August    13,    1859. 
But,  as  will  be  recalled,  Newcastle  had  taken  a 
prominent  part  in  creating  the  democratic  con- 
stitution then  in  operation  in  the  United  Prov- 
inces,  and    political  conditions  in  Canada  were 
well  in  mind  when  he  wrote  his  dispatch  to  Head. 

Whenever  the  authenticated  act  of  the  Canadian  parlia-  New- 
ment  on  this  subject  arrives  —  he  wrote,  concerning  the  Gait  castle 
tariff  bill  —  I  may  probably  feel  that  I  can  take  no  other 
course  than  signify  to  you  the  Queen's  assent  to  it,  notwith- 
standing the  objections  raised  against  the  law  in  this  country. 
But  I  consider  it  my  duty,  no  less  to  the  colony  than  to  the 
mother  country,  to  express  my  regret  that  the  experience  of 
England,  which  has  fully  proved  the  injurious  effect  of  the 
protective  system,  and  the  advantage  of  low  duties  upon 
manufactures,  should  be  lost  sight  of,  and  that  such  an  act 
as  the  present  should  have  been  passed.^ 

^  Egerton  and  Grant,  348-349. 

C171] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Oalt'8 

defense 
of  the 
new 
fiscal 
policy 


Fiscal 

freedom 

aright 

of  the 

Canadian 

people 


Provincial 
govern- 
ment 
respon- 
sible only 
to  the 
people  of 
Canada 


Gait,  through  the  governor-general,  then  as 
now  the  medium  of  communication  between  the 
cabinet  and  the  colonial  office,  replied  to  New- 
castle on  October  25,  1859.  He  replied  in  a 
memorandum,  approved  by  the  cabinet  at 
Quebec,  which  among  state  papers  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  concerning  colonies  that  are  now 
of  the  dominions,  ranks  second  only  to  Durham's 
Report  of  1838. 

The  paragraphs  of  importance  in  this  study  of 
the  evolution  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada  are 
three  in  number.  "Respect  to  the  imperial 
government,"  wrote  Gait,  in  the  first  of  these 
paragraphs  —  a  paragraph  in  which  he  stated 
what  he  conceived  were  the  rights  of  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  Provinces  under  the  written 
and  unwritten  constitution  of  1840 — 

must  always  dictate  the  desire  to  satisfy  them  that  the  policy 
of  this  country  is  neither  hastily  nor  unwisely  formed,  and 
that  due  regard  is  had  to  the  interests  of  the  mother  country 
as  well  as  of  the  province.  But  the  government  of  Canada, 
acting  for  its  legislature  and  people,  cannot  through  those 
feelings  of  deference  which  they  owe  to  the  imperial  author- 
ities, in  any  measure  waive  or  diminish  the  right  of  the  people 
of  Canada  to  decide  for  themselves  both  as  to  the  mode  and 
extent  to  which  taxation  shall  be  imposed. 

The  provincial  ministry  —  Gait  assured  Newcastle  —  are 
at  all  times  ready  to  afford  explanations  in  regard  to  acts  of 
the  legislature  to  which  they  are  party,  but  subject  to  their 
duty  and  allegiance  to  her  majesty,  their  responsibility  in  all 
general  questions  of  policy  must  be  to  the  provincial  parlia- 
ment, by  whose  confidence  they  administer  the  affairs  of  the 
country.     And  in  the  imposition  of  taxation  it  is  so  plainly 

C172] 


EVOLUtlON   FROM    1837  TO   1867 


necessary  that  the  administration  and  the  people  be  in  accord, 
that  the  former  cannot  admit  responsibility  or  require  approval 
beyond  that  of  the  local  legislature. 

Self-government  —  reads  the  second  of  these  paragraphs 

—  would  be  utterly  annihilated  if  the  views  of  the  imperial 
government  were  to  be  preferred  to  those  of  the  people  of 
Canada.  It  is,  therefore,  the  duty  of  the  present  government 
distinctly  to  affirm  the  right  of  the  Canadian  legislature  to 
adjust  the  taxation  of  the  people  in  the  way  they  deem  best 

—  even  if  it  should  unfortunately  happen  to  meet  with  the 
disapproval  of  the  imperial  ministry.  Her  majesty  cannot 
be  advised  to  disallow  such  acts  unless  her  advisers  are  pre- 
pared to  assume  the  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the 
colony,  irrespective  of  the  views  of  its  inhabitants. 

The  imperial  government  —  wrote  Gait,  in  the  third  para- 
graph of  his  historic  memorandum  —  are  not  responsible 
for  the  debts  and  engagements  of  Canada.  They  do  not 
maintain  its  judicial,  educational,  or  civil  services.  They 
contribute  nothing  to  the  internal  government  of  the  country; 
and  the  provincial  legislature,  acting  through  a  ministry 
directly  responsible  to  it,  has  to  make  provision  for  all  these 
wants.  They  must  necessarily  claim  and  exercise  the  widest 
latitude  as  to  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  burdens  to  be 
placed  upon  the  industry  of  the  people.  The  provincial 
government  believes  that  his  grace  must  share  their  con- 
viction on  this  important  subject;  but  as  serious  evils  would 
have  resulted  had  his  grace  taken  a  different  course,  it  is 
wiser  to  prevent  future  complications  by  distinctly  stating 
the  position  that  must  be  maintained  by  every  Canadian 
administration.^ 


Gait's 

conceiH 

tion 

of 

colonial 

auton- 


Re- 

lations 
of  the 
imperial 
govern- 
ment 
with  the 
province 


After  Great  Britain  had  conceded  responsible 
government  to  all  the  British  North  American 
provinces,  and  had  also  adopted  free  trade,  there 
were  at  least  two  instances  in  which  the  colonial 


1  Egerton  and  Grant,  349-351. 


C173] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Colonial  office  had  interfered  with   the  fiscal   policies  of 

office  colonies  with  responsible  government.     The  legis- 

ference  lature  of  New  Brunswick  in  1848  had  passed  a 

"^^^    .  bill   under  which   bounties  were  to   be   paid   to 

colonial  ,         . 

fiscal         encourage  the  cultivation  of  hemp.     At  Charlotte- 

poUcies      town  in   1852  the  legislature  of  Prince  Edward 

Island  passed  a  bill  under  which  bounties  were 

to  be  paid  to  fishermen  to  offset  the  competition 

the  island  fishermen  were  then  meeting  from  the 

bounty-aided  fishermen  of  New  England.     Both 

these  laws  were  disallowed  by  the  government  at 

Westminster.^ 

Endan-  It   would    have   been    possible,   moreover,    for 

^ring       Newcastle  to  have  objected  to  the  tariff  of  the 

reciproc-    United    Provinces  of   1859  on    the    ground    that 

j^  it  endangered  the  treaty  of  reciprocity  with  the 

with  the     United  States,  which  was  then  in  force,  a  treaty 

for  which  the  British  government  was  responsible; 

and  also  on  the  ground  that  it  was  injurious  to 

the  empire  at  large. 

Injury  The   second   of  these   objections   could   easily 

empire       have  been  lodged  against  the  new  tariff,  because, 

at  large      as  will   be   recalled,   after  the  conflict  over  the 

rebellion  losses  bill  of  1849  the  principle  adopted 

at  the  colonial  office  in  regard  to  colonies  with 

responsible  government  was  that  Great  Britain 

"has    no    interest    whatever    in    exercising    any 

greater  influence   in   the   internal   aflPairs   of  the 

colonies    than    is    indispensable,    either    for    the 

purpose    of   preventing    any    one    colony    from 

1  Cf.  Speech  by  Sir  John  Pakington,  H.  C,  March  4,  1853. 

[  174] 


United 
States 


EVOLUTION   FROM    1837  TO   1867 

adopting  measures   injurious   to   another,   or  to 
the  empire  at  large.*'  ^ 

The    New    Brunswick    and     Prince    Edward   Prece- 
Island    precedents    were,    however,    not    pressed   ^^°*  '^^ 
into  service  by  the  colonial  office   at  this  crisis   ignored 
of  1859.     The  changes  in  the  tariff  adverse  to 
American  manufacturing  interests,  changes  which 
had  much  to  do  with  the  denunciation  of  the 
treaty  in  1865  by  the  United  States,^  were  ignored 
in  the  correspondence  between  Westminster  and 
Quebec.     Nor  was  there  any  attempt  to  enforce 
the  principle  that  a  government  at  Whitehall  had 
the  right  to  interfere  when  legislation  was  pending 
in  a  colony  that  was  injurious  to  other  colonies 
or  to  the  empire  at  large. 

The  Cayley  and  Gait  tariffs  directly  endangered   interests 
no  interest  of  the  maritime  provinces,    because,   ^^^ 
except  for  a  little  coal  from  Sydney,  Nova  Scotia,   provinces 
none  of  the  provinces  "down  by  the  sea"  marketed 
any  of  its  products  in  Lower  or  Upper  Canada. 
But  these  tariffs  of  1 858-1 859  did  endanger  the 
reciprocity    treaty,    in    which    New    Brunswick, 
Nova  Scotia,  and  Prince  Edward  Island  had  as 
large  an  interest  as  the  United  Provinces. 

The  tariffs  were  also  distinctly  adverse  to  the 
iron  and  steel,  textile  and  leather  industries  of 
the  United  Kingdom.  They  came,  moreover, 
as  a  shock  to  both  British  statesmen  and  British 

1  Cf.  Earl  Grey,  "The  Colonial  Policy  of  Lord  John 
Russell's  Administration,"  I,  17. 

*  Cf.  Porritt,  "Sixty  Years  of  Protection  in  Canada,'* 
142-144. 

C175] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

A  shock  commercial  and  manufacturing  interests;  for  it 
stJS^^^  had  never  been  conceived  in  England  in  1846, 
men  and  when  protection  and  the  old  commercial  policy  of 
British  ^j^g  empire  —  the  protectionist  tariff  and  the  old 
merciai  navigation  code  —  were  abandoned,  that  British 
Interests     ^olonies    would    dream    of    imposing    protective 

duties  on  imports  from  the  United  Kingdom. 
No  Newcastle     and     the    Whig    government     at 

native        Westminster  were  confronted  with  the  fact  that 
open  to      responsible  government  had   been  established  in 
ewcas  e  ^j^^   United    Provinces   for   ten   years,    and   that 
Gait's   memorandum    left   them   no    alternative, 
unless  they  were  prepared  to  establish  military 
rule  in  the  United  Provinces,  and  in  the  colonies 
that  followed  the  example  of  Canada. 
Charter  The  royal  assent,  as  Newcastle's  dispatch  to 

of  the  ^Y\e  governor-general  of  August  13  had  fore- 
freedom  shadowed,  was  not  withheld.  The  tariff  bill 
of  the        became    a    law;     and    Gait's    memorandum    of 

dominions 

October  25,   1859,   became  the  charter  of  fiscal 
freedom  of  the  colonies  with  responsible  govern- 
ment.    It  became,  in  fact,  part  of  the  unwritten 
constitution  of  the  oversea  dominions, 
other  Nova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick,  and  Prince  Ed- 

coionies     ward  Island  in  the  years  from  1859  to  Confeder- 
exampie     ation  did  not  follow  the  example  of  the  United 
of  the        Provinces.      These  provinces  had  then  no  manu- 
Provinces   facturing  industries  to  protect.      Newfoundland 
has  never  had  a  protective  tariff.      But  Victoria 
adopted  protection  in  1864;   New  South  Wales  in 
1865;   British  Columbia  in   1867;  New  Zealand 

[176] 


series  of 


EVOLUTION  FROM   1837  TO   1867 

in  1881;  South  Australia  in  1882;  and  until  the 
British  preference  was  embodied  in  the  Canadian 
tariflFof  1897  not  a  single  colony  had  enacted  any 
preference  for  imports  from  the  United  Kingdom 
or  for  the  sister  colonies.  Into  all  British  colonies, 
from  1846  to  1897,  manufactures  from  the  United 
States  were  admitted  on  exactly  the  same  terms 
as  manufactures  from  the  United  Kingdom. 

The  concession  by  Great  Britain  to  the  United   Last 
Provinces  of  the  right  to  make  their  own  tariffs 
was  the  last  of  a  long  series  of  concessions  that   con- 
began  in  1 841,  after  responsible  government  had   ^^^^^^^ 
been    established    as    the    result    of   the    liberal 
policy  of  Sydenham  and  of  the  democratic  spirit 
in  which  he  interpreted  his  instructions  from  the 
colonial  office. 

XIV.   A  Nation  CreaUd  out  of  Two  Backwoods 
Provinces 

Political  conditions  in  the  United  Provinces  were   Pouticai 
at  no  time  ideal.     There  was  intense  bitterness  in   ^^' 

ditlons 

the  political  life  of  Upper  Canada  until  the  clergy   in  the 
reserves  question  was   settled   in   1854,    and  the  5*^*^ 
influence  of  the  Family  Compact  was  eradicated 
in  1859-60.    Corruption  in  connection  with  railway 
legislation   and   railway  subsidies  and  bonds  was 
abounding.^  There  was  much  friction  and  jealousy 

^  A  detailed  description  of  some  of  thesie  conditions  is 
embodied  in  a  report  of  115  pages  from  a  select  committee  of 
the  legislative  council  —  a  committee  that  in  1855  investi- 
gated charges  made  against  Francis  Hincks,  premier  of  the 
United  Provinces  from  1851  to  1854. 

C177] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

between  Upper  and  Lower  Canada  over  the  de- 
mand of  Upper  Canada  for  representation  based 
on  population.    There  was,  in  fact,  such  friction, 
and  such  instabiHty  of  government  arising  from 
the  system  of  ministries  with  double  heads  and 
double  majorities,  that  a  federal  union  instead  of 
the  legislative  union  of  1840  had  become  inevitable 
as  early  as  1856. 
Corrup-         Elections    to    the    legislative    assembly    were 
**°uticai      characterized   by  bribery,   corruption,   and   most 
heelers,     of  the  artifices  of  the  political  boss.     Speakers  of 
*rfdato      ^^^   assembly  were   sometimes   partisan.     Sharp 
Interests     and    discreditable    manoeuvers  in  constitutional 
practice  were  resorted  to  by  at  least  one  hard- 
pressed  ministry.     The  civil  service  was  recruited 
from    political    heelers,    with    little    regard    for 
economy  or  efficiency;  and  special  interests,  intent 
on  using  the  constitutional  machinery  of  taxation 
for  their  own   advantage,   promptly   entrenched 
themselves  in  the  tariffs  enacted  after  1858. 
Develop-        After  the  numerous  amendments  to  the  con- 
^^^        stitution  of  1840  made  by  the  imperial  parliament 
local         between   1847  and  1854,  not  one  of  these  evils 
conditions  ^^g  inherent  in  the  system  of  government  —  in 
the  constitutional  machinery  created   either  by 
parliament  at  Westminster  or  by  the  legislature 
of  the  United   Provinces.     Nor  were  they  due, 
directly  or  indirectly,  to  any  influence  or  control 
exercised  by  the  colonial  office.     They  were  all 
developed  by  local  as  distinct  from  constitutional 
conditions;    and  after  the  sweeping  amendments 

C178] 


EVOLUTION   FROM    1837  TO   1867 

made  at  Westminster  in  1854,  it  was  easily 
within  the  power  of  the  legislature  to  remedy  or 
eradicate  them  all. 

Despite  the  friction  between  Lower  and  Upper   a  demo- 
Canada,  and  despite  these  blemishes,  a  political   ^^^^  . 

.    .,.        .  ^      ,         .  .        .  ,  political 

civilization  extremely  democratic  in  character  dvuiza- 
was  created  between  1840  and  1867.  With  the  **°" 
political  and  constitutional  opportunities  that 
were  afforded  by  Great  Britain  to  all  the  British 
North  American  provinces  in  those  years,  the 
legislature  and  the  statesmen  of  the  United 
Provinces,  aided  by  governors-general  such  as 
Sydenham,  Bagot,  Elgin,  Head,  and  Monck, 
created  a  nation  out  of  two  backwoods  provinces. 

"You    can    mark    during    that    period,"    said   Agov- 
Monck,^  in  his  farewell  address  to  the  last  legisla-   *"*°^!i, 
ture  of  the  United  Provinces,  "the  firm  consolida-   survey 
tion    of    your    institutions,    both    political    and    °*^® 
municipal.     You  can  mark  the  extended  settle-   ments  of 
ment  of  your  country,  the  development  of  your 
internal  resources  and  foreign  trade,  the  improve- 
ment and  simplification  of  your  laws,  and  above 
all    the    education    which    the    adoption    of   the 
system  of  responsible  government  has  afforded  to 
your   statesmen   in    the   well-tried   ways   of  the 
British   constitution."  2 

There  was,  it  can  be  added,  no  exaggeration 
or  overstatement  in  these  farewell  words  of  the 
last  governor-general  of  the  United  Provinces. 

^  Governor-general  from  1861  to  1867. 

^  Journals  of  the  Legislative  Council,  August  15,  1866. 

C  179] 


1840- 
1867 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE    INFLUENCES     AND     FORCES 

THAT      BROUGHT     ABOUT 

CONFEDERATION 

Canadian,    JT^  OUR     distinct     and    easily     traceable    in- 

and       •    r     fluences     worked     to     bring     about    Con- 

American    federation    and    the    enactment    of   the    British 

North    America    act  —  the    constitution    of   the 

Dominion  —  by  the  imperial  padiament  in  1867. 

Two    of    these     influences    were    at    work     in 

Canada.     The  first  of  them  was  operative  in  the 

United  Provinces;    the  second  in  the  Maritime 

Provinces.     The   third   influence   was   potent   at 

Westminster;     and    the    fourth,    which    aff'ected 

political    conditions    both    in    Canada    and    at 

Westminster,  but  especially  at  Westminster,  was 

American. 

Example        The  American  influence  was  developed  partly 

Jfl'!"°'out  of  the  example  of  the  United   States,   and 

United  .  ^ 

States  partly,  it  must  be  conceded,  out  of  fear  of  the 
United  States.  The  example  of  the  United 
States  —  the  success  of  the  federal  system  — 
stimulated  the  movement  for  confederation  in 
the  United  Provinces.^  Apprehension  in  England 
concerning  the  attitude  of  the  United  States 
towards  British  North  America,  especially  during 
and  at  the  close  of  the  civil  war  of  1 861-1865, 
1  Cf.  Mackenzie,  342. 

[180] 


FORCES  THAT  BROUGHT  CONFEDERATION 

greatly  strengthened  the  influences  at  West- 
minster that  were  favorable  to  any  workable 
plan  for  a  union  of  all  the  provinces  under  British 
rule  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  coast.^ 

In  the  Maritime  Provinces  the  influence  that   union  of 
worked  for  a  confederation  of  the  British  North   °^t^« 

.  .  .  1         r  1  •  provinces 

American  provinces  was  the  fact  that  m  1863-  contem- 
1864  the  Maritime   Provinces,  which  then  had   ^^^^ 
many    interests    in    common,    and    scarcely    any   ism 
that    were    antagonistic,    were    contemplating    a 
legislative  union. 

All  these  influences  were  at  work  from  1861  to   Failure 
1867.     Two  had  been  in  existence  and  operating   °^J«8is- 
from   1858;    for  in  that  year  it  was  shown  un-   union  of 
mistakably  that  the  legislative  union  of  Upper   ^^^^ 
and  Lower  Canada  was  a  failure  as  far  as  Upper  Lower 
Canada  was  concerned;    and  there  was  also  an    ^^^^ 
intimation  in  the  speech  from  the  throne,  in  the 
house  of  lords,  at  Westminster,  that  the  imperial 
government  would  welcome  a  union  of  all  the 
British  North  American  provinces. 

I.     The  Origin  of  the  Confederation  Idea 

If  Great  Britain  was  to  retain  the  half  of  the   con- 
North  American  continent  that  remained  to  her  *®?®^" 

ation 

after    the    American    revolution.    Confederation    sug- 
was  inevitable  as  soon  as  the  peace  of  Versailles   f®^*®?. 

'^  in  1783 

was  signed.     It  was  urged,  in  fact,  as  early  as 

^  Cf.  Debates  on  British  North  America  Act,  H.  L.,  Febru- 
ary 27,  March  4,  also  Queen's  speech  at  end  of  session,  August 
21,  1867. 

C 181  ] 


as  a 
rival  to 
United 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

1783  by  Colonel  Moore,  a  government  engineer, 
who  under  instructions  from  Guy  Carleton, 
governor  of  Quebec,  reported  on  the  resources 
and  defenses  of  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick. 
A  con-  Moore  recommended  the  union  of  the  Mari- 

federated   ^jj^g  Provinces  with  the  territory  out  of  which 

Canada        . 

in  1 791  Lower  and  Upper  Canada  were  carved. 
He  urged  that  by  the  estabhshment  of  uniform 
states  government  and  laws,  intercourse  and  mutual 
interests  would  be  created;  that  "a  great  country 
may  yet  be  raised  up  in  America";  and  that 
"only  by  union  was  there  any  likelihood  of 
saving  what  remained  to  Great  Britain  upon 
the  continent  of  America,  and  of  building  up  a 
formidable  rival  to  the  American  states."  ^ 
Credit  All  that  is  known  of  Moore  is  that  he  was  a 

military  engineer,  and  that  he  wrote  this  report 
in  1783;  but  Canadian  historians  credit  him 
with  having  been  the  first  Englishman  to  con- 
ceive of  a  great  Canadian  confederation,  such  as 
came  into  being  between  Dominion  Day,  1867, 
and  the  great  war. 
A  sag-  A  Httle  more  than  half  a  century  after  Moore 

from°'*  dreamed  his  dream,  the  house  of  commons  at 
pariia-  Westminster  in  1837  adopted  a  resolution  in 
which  was  emphasized  the  need  of  some  arrange- 
ment between  the  Maritime  Provinces  and  Lower 
and  Upper  Canada  for  the  joint  regulation  and 
adjustment  of  interests  that  were  common  to  all 
the  British  North  American  provinces.^ 

1  Cf.  Boyd,  173.  *  Cf.  Mackenzie,  339. 

[182] 


accorded 
to  Moore 


ment 
in  1887 


FORCES  THAT  BROUGHT  CONFEDERATION 

Durham  in  his  report  of  1838  recommended  Durham's 
that  the  bill  for  the  union  of  Lower  and  Upper  ^^^ 
Canada  "should  contain  provisions  by  which 
any  or  all  of  the  other  North  American  colonies 
may,  on  application  of  the  legislature,  with  the 
consent  of  the  two  Canadas,  or  their  united 
legislature,  be  admitted  into  the  union  on  such 
terms  as  may  be  agreed  on  between  them." 

The  idea  of  a  union  of  all  the  British  North   An 
American  provinces  was  thus  much  older  than   ?^^^ 
the  yoking  of  Lower  and  Upper  Canada  in  1840;   piea  for 
and  this  union  of  two  provinces,  with  nearly  as   ^T  _ 
many  interests  which  were  sharply  antagonistic   ation 
as   interests   which    they   had    in   common,   had   ^^^^^ 
been  in  existence  for  only  a  single  decade  when 
an  Upper  Canadian   member  of  the   legislative 
assembly  —  Merritt,     of     Lincoln  —  asked     the 
house  to  agree  to  an  address  to  the  crown  for  a 
constitutional   convention    to  consider  a  federal 
union.     This  was  in  1851,  before  the  under-repre- 
sentation   of    Upper    Canada   in    the    legislative 
assembly  had  become  a  grievance  with  Canadians 
west    of   the    Ottawa    River,    and    only    seven 
members   voted  with  Merritt. 

n.     Popular  Dissatisfaction  in  Upper 
Canada  with  the  Union  of  1840 

It  was  the  census  of  1851  that  revealed  that   Census 
Upper  Canada  was  inadequately  represented  in 
the     legislative     assembly.     Experience    of    the 
working  of  legislative  union  showed  that  through 

[183] 


of  1861 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Upper 
Canada 
demands 
a  larger 
repre- 
sentation 


French 

Canada 
prevents 
a  redistri- 
bution 
of  seats 


Safeguards 
for  Upper 
Canada 
that 

became  a 
boomerang 


indirect  taxation  by  which  the  revenues  were 
raised,  and  also  through  the  difference  in  social 
habits  and  requirements  of  the  people  of  Upper 
Canada  and  of  the  habitants  of  the  French 
province,  Upper  Canada  was  paying  three-fourths 
of  the  expenditures  of  the  United  Provinces. 

With  the  revelation  of  these  facts  there  began 
the  movement  of  Upper  Canada  for  a  representa- 
tive system  based  on  population.  After  the 
sweeping  and  radical  amendments  made  in  1854 
at  Westminster  to  the  constitution  of  1840,  it 
was  within  the  power  of  the  legislature  to 
remedy  this  grievance,  and  to  increase  the  repre- 
sentation of  Upper  Canada  in  the  legislative 
assembly. 

French  Canada  was,  however,  well  aware  of 
two  facts  in  the  history  of  the  act  of  union  of 
1840.  It  knew  that  the  assigning  to  Upper 
Canada  of  as  many  representatives  in  the  legisla- 
tive assembly  and  the  legislative  council  as  were 
assigned  to  Lower  Canada  was  done  to  give  the 
population  of  British  origin  in  the  United  Prov- 
inces a  preponderating  influence  in  the  legislature 
and  the  government.  Canadians  of  British  origin 
were  to  have  this  ascendancy,  although  from 
1830  to  1840  the  population  of  Upper  Canada 
was  much  less  than  that  of  Lower  Canada. 

French  Canada  also  knew  that  the  clause  in 
the  act  of  union  making  it  impossible  to  vary  the 
apportionment  of  members  in  the  assembly, 
except  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  both  the  assembly 

C184: 


FORCES  THAT  BROUGHT  CONFEDERATION 

and  the  council,  was  intended  to  safeguard  the 
representation  as  determined  at  the  union. 

The  leaders  of  French-Canadians  in  the  legis-  Lower 
lature  could  not  gainsay  the  census  statistics  of  ^^^ 
1 85 1.    Nor  could  it  be  denied  that  the  larger  part    claims 
of  the  revenue  was  paid  by  Upper  Canada.     But   ^ 
French-Canadians  refused  to  concede  the  claim   Canada 
of  Upper  Canada  for  a  larger  representation  in 
the   legislature;     and   nothing   short   of  another 
rebellion,   and   another  intervention   by  the  im- 
perial government  similar  to  that  of  183 7-1 840, 
could    have    remedied    the    grievance    of   Upper 
Canada,  had  not  French  Canada,  as  time  went 
on,  become  willing  to  consider  a  federal  union, 
with    a    legislature    for    each    province,    charged 
with  the  administration  of  exclusively  provincial 
business. 

No    appeal   for   representation    by   population   French 
moved    French    Canada    as    long    as    the    union   ^j^^ 
of    1840    continued.     French-Canadian    leaders,   taking 
moreover,    were    so    determined    that    nothing   g*!^^ 
should  endanger  the   position  of  their  people  in   Bay 
the  legislature,  that  for  some  years  they  blocked   ?°^F^^ 
all  proposals  for  taking  over  the  territory  of  the 
Hudson    Bay   Company   by  the  government  of 
the   United    Provinces,    lest   its    settlement    and 
development  should  add  to  the  political  power 
of  Upper  Canada.^ 

1  Cf.  Mackenzie,  102. 


[185] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

III.     Imperial  Aspects  of  Confederation 

An  At   this   point  the   difficulties   between   Upper 

taperiai     ^^^  Lower  Canada  on  the  question  of  representa- 

endan-       tion    in    the    legislature    touched    an    important 

^®^®*^        imperial  interest;   for  the  imperial  government  at 

this  time  was  much  concerned  about  the  future 

of  the  vast  stretch  of  country  lying  between  the 

western    boundary    of   Upper    Canada    and    the 

Rocky  Mountains. 

Population  was  pouring  into  the  northwestern 
states.  Settlement  was  coming  near  the  boundary 
line  that  divides  these  states  today  from  Mani- 
toba and  Saskatchewan;  and  Great  Britain  was 
nervous  lest  American  settlement  might  push 
into  the  uninhabited  prairie  country  of  Canada, 
and  lest  international  complications  might  ensue.^ 
If  the  United  Provinces  would  not,  or  could 
not,  take  over  responsibility  for  the  government 
and  settlement  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company's 
territory,  its  settlement  presented  a  new  and 
difficult  problem  for  the  colonial  office;  and  it 
was  for  this  reason,  among  others,  that  in  1864- 
1866  the  government  at  Westminster  extended 
such  a  welcome  hand  to  statesmen  from  Canada 
with  proposals  for  a  confederation  of  the  British 
North  American  provinces. 

Old  as  were  the  suggestions  for  confederation, 
there  were  great  difficulties  to  be  overcome  before 

1  Cf.  Speech  by  Earl  of  Carnarvon,  H.  L.,  February  19, 
1867. 

[186] 


FORCES  THAT  BROUGHT  CONFEDERATION 

the    dreams    of    Moore,    Durham    and    Merritt   civu 
could  be  realized.     Several  decades  might  have   Z"^. 

United 

passed    before    the    Dominion    of  Canada    came   states 
into  being,  had  it  not  been  for  the  failure  in  some 
important  aspects  of  the  union  of  1840,  and  for 
the  civil  war  in  the  United  States. 

The  civil  war,  and  the  international  difficulties  End  of 
it  developed,  raised  apprehensions  at  Toronto,  ^^^^°^ 
Quebec,  and  Ottawa,  and  above  all  at  West-  treaty 
minster,  concerning  the  defense  of  the  British 
North  American  provinces.^  Resulting  from  the 
civil  war  there  came  threats  from  Washington  — 
threats  made  good  in  1865 — of  the  denuncia- 
tion of  the  reciprocity  treaty  of  1854.  There 
were  also  threats,  which  were  not  made  good,  of 
abrogating  the  article  in  the  convention  of  1818 
—  an  article  which  Great  Britain  had  rigidly 
insisted  on  at  the  time  the  convention  was 
made  —  which  interdicted  the  maintenance  of 
vessels  of  war  on  the  Great  Lakes,  and  of  ending 
the  bonding  privileges  which  so  greatly  facili- 
tated transport  by  the  railways  and  on  the 
Great  Lakes. 

There  was,  moreover,  the  isolation  of  British   isolation 
Columbia,  and  its  partial  dependence  for  transport   g^tish 
facilities  on  San  Francisco;    and  there  was  the   Columbia 
danger,  which  has  already  been  alluded  to,  that 
American    settlers    in    the    northwestern    states 
might  look  with  covetous  eyes  on  the  splendid 

1  Cf.   Buckle,  "The  Life  of  Benjamin  Disraeli,  Earl  of 
Beaconsfield,"  IV,  475. 

[187] 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

grain-growing     and     ranching    country     in     the 
territory  between  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  and  the 
eastern  foothills  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
Hudson         The  only  governing  power  until   1869  in  the 
Bay  Com-  territory   out   of  which    since    1871    there   have 
tenure  of    been     Organized     the     provinces    of    Manitoba, 
^^®'        Saskatchewan,    and    Alberta    was    the    Hudson 
Bay    Company.     Its    tenure    of    authority    had 
long    been    wearing    thin.     The    British    govern- 
ment   dreaded    any   large   inroad    of  Americans 
into  the  country  before  it  should  be  taken  over 
by    a    Canadian    government,    and    adequately 
organized  for  defense  and  civil  administration. 
Conditions      Upper  Canada  had  no  practical  concern  over 
*^*    ^      the  isolation  of  British  Columbia.     That  was  an 

anected 

au  unfortunate    condition    that    troubled    only    the 

provinces    English    settlers   in    the    Pacific   coast    province 

and    the    colonial    office    at    Westminster.     But 

Upper    Canada    was    greatly    interested    in    the 

almost   uninhabited   regions   beyond   its  western 

boundary  line.     It  was  also  practically  interested 

in   the   bonding   question;     and   Upper   Canada, 

Lower    Canada,    and    the    Maritime    Provinces 

were   directly   interested   in   the   defense   of  the 

British   North   American   provinces,   and   in   the 

disturbing   economic  changes   that  would   result 

from  the  denunciation  by  the  United  States  of 

the  Elgin-Marcy  treaty. 

Deadlock       All  these  Conditions,  as  well  as  the  movement 

to  United    jj^   ^Yie  Maritime   Provinces  in   the  early  sixties 

Provinces  ...  . 

for  a  legislative  union,  made  for  Confederation. 

C  188  ] 


FORCES  THAT  BROUGHT  CONFEDERATION 

But  it  was  the  deadlock  in  the  United  Provinces, 
resulting  from  the  inadequate  representation  of 
Upper  Canada  and  the  instability  of  govern- 
ments based  on  double  majorities  and  double- 
headed  cabinets,^  that  forced  the  question  to  the 
front,  and  from  1858  made  a  federal  union  of 
Upper  and  Lower  Canada,  or  a  union  including 
all  the  British  North  American  provinces,  the 
dominant  issue  in  Canadian  poHtics. 

There  were   many   fathers   of  Confederation.^   Gait 
Thirty-three  statesmen  of  the  United  Provinces,   i'^^. 
the     Maritime     Provinces,     and     Newfoundland    eration 
were  of  the  constitutional  conventions  at  Char-   ^*^' 
lottetown  and  Quebec  in  1864  at  which  the  Do- 
minion was  created.    But  it  was  Alexander  Tulloch 
Gait  —  Gait  of  the  epoch-making  correspondence 
with    Newcastle    over    the    tariffs    of    1858    and 
1859  —  who  first  pushed  the  idea  of  Confederation 
into  the  realm  of  practical   politics  at  Toronto 
and  Quebec  and  also  at  Westminster. 

In   the   session   of  1858,   before   he   succeeded   His  fear 
Cayley  as  minister  of  finance.  Gait  outHned   a   °' 
plan  for  federal  union  in  a  speech  in  the  legislative   tionof 

provinces 

*  Cf.  Francis  J.  Audet,  "Canadian  Dates  and  Events —    by 
1492-1915,"  105.  United 

*  "Confederation  will  stand  for  all  time  as  the  monument 
of  the  work  accomplished  by  the  devotion,  the  unselfishness, 
and  the  far-sighted  vision  of  those  men  whom  we  are  all  proud 
to  call  the  fathers  of  federation.  To  these  men  and  their 
work  we  owe  a  yebt  which  we  can  never  repay."  —  The  Duke 
of  Devonshire,  governor-general  of  Canada,  at  the  dedication 
of  the  new  parliament  house,  at  Ottawa,  July  2,  19 17. 

C189] 


EVOLUTION    OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

assembly  —  a  speech  in  which  he  declared,  with 
characteristic  outspokenness,  that  unless  such  a 
union  were  effected,  the  British  North  American 
provinces  would  ultimately  drift  into  the  United 
States.^ 
Attitude  Edmund  Walker  Head,  Elgin's  successor  as 
f  ri  governor-general,  did  all  in  his  power  to  forward 
govern-  the  scheme  Gait  had  outlined  on  July  6,  1858; 
™®^*  and  the  first  intimation  to  the  world  at  large 
that  the  imperial  government  was  coming  into 
the  discussion  of  Confederation  was  an  announce- 
ment in  the  speech  from  the  throne  in  the  legisla- 
tive council  of  the  United  Provinces,  at  the  end 
of  the  session  of  1858,  that  the  Maritime 
Provinces  and  the  imperial  government,  were 
about  to  be  invited  to  discuss,  with  representatives 
of  the  United  Provinces,  the  principles  on  which 
a  "bond  of  a  federal  character,  uniting  the 
provinces  of  British  North  America,  may  perhaps 
hereafter  be  practicable."  2 

IV.     Jn  Appeal  to  Whitehall 
Confed-         In  the  interval  between  the  end  of  the  session 
qlTe^tion     ^^  ^858  and  the  beginning  of  that  of  1859,  Gait 
for  and  Cartier  were   at  Whitehall   in   the  interest 

theS^*^**   of  the  new  movement.     Representatives  of  the 
selves       Maritime    Provinces   had    been    at   the   colonial 
office  in  the  previous  year,  in  the  interest  of  a 
union  of  these  provinces.     They  had  been  told 
by  Labouchere,  secretary  for  the  colonies  in  the 
1  Cf.  Boyd,  174.  2  Ibid.,  175. 

[190] 


FORCES  THAT  BROUGHT  CONFEDERATION 

Palmerston  administration  of  1 855-1 858,  that 
union  was  a  question  for  the  provinces  them- 
selves, and  that  no  obstacles  would  be  thrown  in 
their  way  by  the  imperial  government. 

In  October,  1858,  when  Gait  and  Cartier  were  Buiwer 
in  London,  the  Derby  administration  of  1858-  ^^°^ 
1859    was    in    power,    with    Buiwer    Lytton    as   colonial 
colonial  secretary.     It  was  Buiwer  Lytton  who   ^*^^®**^ 
piloted   the   act  creating  representative  govern- 
ment for  British  Columbia  through  the  house  of 
commons.     It  was  Buiwer  Lytton  also  who  was 
responsible    for    the    paragraph    in    the   Queen's 
speech  at  the  end  of  the  session  of  1858  expressing 
the   hope   that   the   new   colony   on   the   Pacific 
coast  would  be  but  one  step  in  the  process  by 
which  the  British  dominions  in  North  America 
might  be  peopled  in  an  unbroken  chain  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  by  a  loyal  population  of 
subjects  of  the  British  crown. 

Gait  and  Cartier  laid  the  case  for  Confederation  Case  for 
before  Buiwer  Lytton  in  a  memorandum  dated  ^°^^^ 
October  23,  1858  —  one  of  the  really  important 
documents  in  the  constitutional  history  of  the 
Dominion.  The  act  of  union  of  1840  and  its 
provisions  regarding  representation  in  the  legisla- 
tive assembly  were  recalled.  The  colonial  secre- 
tary was  reminded  that  in  1840  Lower  Canada 
possessed  a  much  larger  population  than  Upper 
Canada,  and  that  in  the  first  decade  of  the  union 
representation  as  determined  by  the  act  had  led 
to  no  difficulties. 

C191] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Conflict  But  since  that  period  —  continued  the  memorandum  — 

between      the  growth  of  population  has  been  more  rapid  in  the  west- 
pper  an     ^^^  section  —  in  Upper  Canada  —  and  claims  are  now  made  on 
Canada       behalf  of  its  inhabitants  for  giving  them  representation  in 
the  legislature  in  proportion  to  their  numbers.     These  claims, 
involving,  it  is  believed,  a  most  serious  interference  with  the 
^  principles  on  which  union  was   based,   have  been   and   are 

being  strenuously  resisted  by  Lower  Canada.  The  result  is 
shown  by  an  agitation  fraught  with  great  danger  to  the 
peaceful  and  harmonious  working  of  our  constitutional 
system,  and  consequently  detrimental  to  the  progress  of  the 
provinces. 
Only  one  The  necessity  of  providing  a  remedy  for  a  state  of  things 

remedy  that  is  yearly  becoming  worse,  and  of  allaying  feelings  that 
are  being  daily  aggravated  by  the  contentions  of  political 
parties  —  continued  the  memorandum — has  impressed  the 
advisers  of  her  majesty's  representative  in  Canada  with 
the  importance  of  seeking  for  such  a  mode  of  dealing  with  these 
difficulties  as  may  forever  remove  them.  In  this  view  it  has 
appeared  to  them  advisable  to  consider  how  far  the  union  of 
Lower  with  Upper  Canada  could  be  rendered  essentially 
federative  in  combination  with  the  provinces  of  New  Bruns- 
wick, Nova  Scotia,  and  Prince  Edward  Island,  together  with 
such  other  territories  as  it  may  be  desirable  to  incorporate 
with  confederation  from  the  possessions  of  the  crown  in 
British  North  America.^ 

Relations        The    interests    that    the    Maritime    Provinces 
Sl  ^^        then  shared  with  the  United  Provinces  were  only 

Maritime  -' 

Provinces   thosc  that  atosc  out  of  the  fact  that  all  five  prov- 
Jfl  _,       inces   were    on   the    same    continent,  and   were 

United 

Provinces  under  the  same  crown.  Otherwise  the  United 
Provinces  and  the  "provinces  down  by  the 
sea"  stood  to  each  other  almost  in  the  relation 
of  foreign  states. 

1  Boyd,  176. 
[192] 


and 
currency 


FORCES  THAT  BROUGHT  CONFEDERATION 

Hostile  customs  houses  guarded  their  frontiers,  xariflfs 
Tariffs  for  protection  in  the  United  Provinces, 
and  tariffs  for  revenue  in  New  Brunswick,  Nova 
Scotia,  Prince  Edward  Island,  and  Newfound- 
land, choked  the  channels  of  intercolonial  trade. 
There  was  no  uniformity  in  banking.  There 
was  no  common  system  of  weights  and  measures; 
and  there  was  no  identity  of  postal  service. 
The  currency  differed.  The  sovereign  and  the 
American  dollar  were  legal  tender  in  the  United 
Provinces.  British  and  American  coins  were 
also  current  in  New  Brunswick.  In  Nova 
Scotia,  Peruvian,  Mexican,  and  Columbian  dollars 
were  legal  tender;  while  in  Prince  Edward  Island 
the  complexity  of  current  moneys  and  of  their 
relative  values  was  even  greater.^ 

In    the   Gait    and    Cartier   memorial,    Bulwer  Progress 
Lytton,  the  colonial  secretary,  was  reminded  of  ^^^^^^ 
these  conditions.     He  was   reminded   that  each   North 
colony    was    distinct    in    government,    customs,   ^™^2*^ 
industries,  and  legislation. 

To  each  other  —  continued  the  memorandum  —  no  greater 
facilities  are  extended  than  to  any  foreign  state,  and  the 
only  common  tie  is  that  which  binds  all  to  the  British  crown. 
This  state  of  things  is  considered  neither  promotive  of  the 
physical  prosperity  of  all,  nor  of  that  moral  union  which 
ought  to  be  possessed  in  the  presence  of  the  powerful  con- 
federation of  the  United  States. 

*  Cf.  Speech  by  Earl  of  Carnarvon,  H.  L.,  February  19, 
1867. 


C  193  ] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

V.     Dread  of  Annexation  by  the  United 
States 

Attitude  Gait,  in  his  speech  in  the  legislative  assembly 

^^^*  in    1858,   had   urged   confederation   to  ward   off 

Cartier  annexation.     Cartier  had  no  admiration  of  Ameri- 

towards  ^^^   political   institutions.     He   never   concealed 

United  ... 

States  his  dislike  of  them;  ^  and  the  attitude  of  Gait 
and  Cartier  towards  the  United  States  is  ex- 
pressed in  the  memorandum  of  October  13.  "It 
is  in  the  power  of  the  imperial  government  by 
sanctioning  a  confederation  of  these  provinces," 
they  wrote,  "to  constitute  a  dependency  of  the 
empire,  valuable  in  time  of  peace  and  powerful 
in  the  event  of  war,  forever  removing  the  fear 
that  these  colonies  may  ultimately  serve  to 
swell  the  power  of  another  nation."  ^ 

A  con-  The  request  to  the  colonial  secretary  was  that 

vention      ^j^^  British  government  would  authorize  a  con- 
proposed  ,  " 

vention  of  delegates  from  the  Maritime  Provinces 

and  the  United  Provinces  to  consider  a  federative 
union  —  the  convention  to  report   on  the   prin- 
ciples on  which  such  a  union  might  properly  be 
based. 
New  Only    Nova    Scotia    and    Newfoundland    had 

^Tf  ^  ^    shown   any  active  interest  in  the  movement  in 

wick  and  •'  /«      i         tv  /r      •    •  r»         • 

Prince       1 857    for   a   union   of  the   Maritime    Provinces. 

SlLd*^      Bulwer  Lytton   communicated   this   fact  to  the 

hold  aloof  representatives  of  the  United   Provinces.     "We 

think,"  he  added,  "that  we  should  be  wanting  in 

1  Cf.  Boyd,  356-357.  »  lh%d,y  177. 

C  194] 


FORCES  THAT  BROUGHT  CONFEDERATION 

proper  consideration  for  those  governments  if 
we  were  to  authorize,  without  previous  knowledge 
of  their  views,  a  meeting  of  delegates  from  the 
executive  councils,  and  thus  commit  them  to 
preliminary  steps  towards  the  settlement  of  a 
momentous  question  of  which  they  have  not  yet 
signified  their  assent  to  the  principle." 

The  colonial  secretary  communicated  the  views   Govem- 
of  the  United  Provinces  to  the  governments  at   u^^*/* 
Fredericton,    Halifax,    Charlottetown,     and    St.   Provinces 
John's;    and  when  Gait  and  Carrier  returned  to   ^f^^ 
Quebec  in  the  winter  of  1858,  the  cabinet  of  the   move 
United  Provinces  also  put  itself  in  communication 
with   these   governments,    and   invited    them   to 
take    such    action    as    they    deemed    expedient. 
Nothing    immediate    resulted    from    these    com- 
munications;   but  they  gave  an  impetus  to  the 
movement,  and  they  were  the  first  practical  steps 
in  the  direction  of  Confederation. 

The  next  year,   1859,  the  Liberals  of  Upper  a  less 
Canada  held  a  convention  at  Toronto  which  was   ^ 

DiuOUS 

attended   by  570  delegates.     Confederation  was   scheme 
discussed;    but  the  outlook  for  a  comprehensive   ^^^^j. 
scheme  was  then  so  unpromising  that  the  con-   eration 
vention    decided    that    the    most    practical    and 
immediate  remedy  for  the  constitutional  griev- 
ances of  Upper  Canada  was  the  organization  of 
two   local   governments,    and   the   creation   of  a 
joint  authority  to  control  interests  common  to 
Upper  and  Lower  Canada. 

Brown,   the  leader  of  the  Liberals  of  Upper 

C  195] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Canada,^  formulated  this  plan  in  the  session  of 
the  legislature  of  i860.  He  submitted  two  reso- 
lutions. One  declared  that  the  union  of  1840 
was  a  failure,  that  it  had  resulted  in  great  politi- 
cal abuses  and  universal  dissatisfaction.  The 
other  called  for  an  end  to  the  legislative  union, 
and  the  organization  of  the  two  provinces  on  the 
lines  urged  at  the  Toronto  convention  of  Sep- 
tember, 1859.  Both  resolutions  were  defeated 
by  large  majorities,  and  in  i860  no  progress 
towards  confederation  or  towards  redress  of  the 
grievances  of  Upper  Canada  was  apparent. 

^  "George  Brown  was  loved  by  many  people  who  never 
saw  his  face,  nor  heard  his  voice.  Back  in  the  townships, 
where  the  Globe  carried  its  weekly  message,  he  had  the 
authority  of  a  prophet.  He  created  the  Liberal  party  of 
Upper  Canada,  as  Sir  Wilfred  Laurier  has  fashioned  the 
Liberal  party  of  to-day."  —  Sir  John  Willison,  **  Some  Politi- 
cal Leaders  in  the  Canadian  Federation,"  in  "The  Federa- 
tion of  Canada  —  1867-1917,"  p.  54. 


C196] 


eratlon 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE    QUEBEC    CONVENTION    AND    THE 
BRITISH     NORTH     AMERICA     ACT 

THERE  was  a  general  election  in  the  United   a 
Provinces     in    1861.     It    resulted    in    the   *^*""°" 
govem- 

overthrow  of  the  Cartier-Macdonald  government,    ment 
But  in  the  years  from   1861   to  1864  there  was   ^®^8®<* 
instability  of  political  conditions  in  the  United    Confed- 
Provinces    that   was   without    precedent    in    the 
English-speaking  world.     There  were  three  gov- 
ernments   in    this    short    period;     and    in   June, 
1864,   a   deadlock  would   have   ensued   had   not 
Brown  ^  and  the  Liberals  supported  the  Tache- 
Macdonald  administration  in  return  for  a  guar- 
antee  for  the   settlement   of  the   constitutional 
diflSculty. 

*  "  Brown  was  leader  of  the  Clear  Grit  party,  and  second 
to  Macdonald  (if  to  him)  in  personal  influence."  —  Riddell, 
"Constitution  of  Canada,"  Note  xxii,  49.  "Dunkin,  a 
member  of  the  legislature  from  Broome,  said  that  the  attempt 
to  overcome  the  deadlock  by  the  scheme  of  Confederation 
reminded  him  of  the  two  boys  who  upset  the  canoe.  Tom 
said,  'Bill,  can  you  pray.?'  Bill  admitted  that  he  could  not 
think  of  any  prayer  that  was  suitable  to  the  occasion. 
Tom's  rejoinder,  according  to  Dunkin,  was  earnest,  but  not 
parliamentary.  He  said,  'Well,  something  has  to  be  done, 
and  that  —  soon.'"  —  Willison,  "Some  Political  Leaders  in 
the  Canadian  Federation,"  51. 

C  197] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Or  end  A    coalition    government    was    formed,    with 

legislative  gj-Qwn  and  two  of  his  colleagues  of  the  Liberal 

union 

of  1840  party  as  members  of  the  cabinet.  It  was  a 
coalition  based  on  a  written  agreement  that 
(i)  the  government  would  address  themselves  to 
the  negotiations  for  a  confederation  of  the  British 
North  American  provinces;  and  (2)  in  the  event 
of  failure  in  this  undertaking,  they  would  intro- 
duce, in  the  next  legislative  session,  the  federal 
principle  for  the  United  Provinces  alone,  "coupled 
with  such  provisions  as  would  permit  the  Mari- 
time Provinces  to  be  hereafter  incorporated  into 
the  Canadian  system."  ^ 
Question  It  was  in  June,  1864,  that  this  great  forward 
^  step  was   taken.     Earlier   in   the  year  the   pro- 

Maritime    posals   of   1857    for   a   legislative   union   of  the 
Provinces   Maritime    Provinces    had    been    revived.     The 

revived 

legislatures  of  New  Brunswick,  Nova  Scotia,  and 
Prince  Edward  Island  passed  resolutions  authoriz- 
ing their  governments  to  send  representatives  to 
a  convention  to  be  held  at  Charlottetown  in 
September,  1864.  Charles  Tupper,  at  this  time 
a  doctor  at  Amherst,  Nova  Scotia,  but  from 
1864  to  1901  one  of  the  foremost  Canadian 
statesmen,  was  the  leading  spirit  in  the  union 
movement  in  the  Maritime  Provinces.^ 

^  Mackenzie,  90. 

2  "Tupper  was  bold,  confident,  dominant.  He  never 
knew  the  call  to  retreat.  He  had  courage  for  any  combat 
and  resource  for  any  emergency.  History  will  find  and 
point  out    blemishes  in  the    public  career  of   Sir  Charles 

[198] 


BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA  ACT 


con- 
vention 


The  Charlottetown  convention  met  on  Sep-  Char- 
tember  i.  The  government  of  the  United  '°*^®*°^ 
Provinces,  without  waiting  for  an  invitation, 
sent  a  delegation  to  Charlottetown  to  urge  a 
confederation  of  all  the  British  provinces.  The 
delegation  was  cordially  received,  and  the  result 
was  a  second  convention  held  at  Quebec  in 
October. 

All  the  provinces,  including  Newfoundland, 
were  represented  at  Quebec.  The  convention 
was  in  session  behind  closed  doors  from  October 
lo  to  October  28.^  It  agreed  on  a  federal  as 
distinct  from  a  legislative  union;  and  from  the 
historic  Quebec  convention,  the  first  constitu- 
tional convention  in  the  history  of  the  British 
Empire,  with  the  exception  of  the  conventions 
that  preceded  the  union  of  England  and  Scotland 
in  1707,  were  issued  the  famous  seventy-four 
confederation  resolutions. 


Quebec 

Con- 
vention 


Tupper,  but  he  gave  the  state  physical  vigour,  intellectual 
power,  and  constructive  energy.  As  for  the  rest,  'his  great- 
ness, not  his  littleness,  concerns  mankind.'"  —  Willison, 
"Some  Political  Leaders  in  the  Canadian  Federation,"  59. 

^  Correspondents  representing  Canadian,  British  and 
American  newspapers  assembled  at  Quebec  to  report  the 
proceedings  of  the  convention.  In  answer  to  a  memorial 
for  facilities  for  reporting  the  correspondents  were  told, 
in  a  letter  from  the  secretary,  H.  Bernard,  that  no  com- 
munications of  the  proceedings  of  the  convention  could  be 
made  until  the  delegates  were  enabled  definitely  to  report 
the  issue  of  their  deliberations  to  the  governments  of  the 
respective  provinces.  —  Joseph  Pope,  "Confederation  Docu- 


II. 


C199] 


or 
Dominion 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

British  These  resolutions  having  been  adopted  by  the 

America     legislatures    of    the    United     Provinces,     Nova 
act  Scotia,  and  New  Brunswick,^  they  were  embodied 

in  the  British  North  America  act  which  was 
passed  by  the  imperial  parliament.  The  act 
received  the  royal  assent  on  March  29,  and  the 
Dominion  came  into  existence  on  July  i,  1867. 
Kingdom  There  are  145  sections  and  five  schedules  in 
the  British  North  America  act.  The  act  was 
the  creation  of  the  statesmen  of  the  British 
North  American  provinces,  with  few  suggestions 
and  little  help  from  the  colonial  office  or  the 
imperial  parliament.  There  were  statesmen  in 
British  North  America  —  John  Alexander  Mac- 
donald,  in  particular  —  who  would  have  liked 
to  give  to  the  new  confederation  the  title  of  the 
Kingdom  of  Canada.  But  Lord  Derby,  who  was 
premier  of  the  Conservative  administration  of 
1 866-1 868  that  carried  the  act  through  parlia- 
ment, was  careful  of  the  susceptibilities  of  the 
United  States,  and  suggested  Dominion  instead 
of  Kingdom. 

I.    American  Opposition  to  Confederation 

Opposi-  In   1866-67  ^^  acutely  disturbing  contention 

UnitS*^^  over  the  compensation  demanded  by  the  United 
states       States  from  Great  Britain  for  the  losses  sustained 

to  Con- 

federa-  1  Newfoundland  and  Prince  Edward  Island  withdrew  from 

the  negotiations  after  the  Quebec  conference,  although 
Prince  Edward  Island  came  into  confederation  in  1873. 

[  200  ] 


BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA  ACT 

by  American  shipping  and  trade  from  the 
depredations  of  the  Alabama,  a  cruiser  built  at 
Birkenhead,  for  the  government  of  the  confed- 
erate states,  had  not  been  settled.  There  was, 
moreover,  some  opposition  to  Confederation  in 
the  United  States,  particularly  at  Augusta,  the 
capital  of  Maine,  and  also  in  the  senate  and 
house  of  representatives  at  Washington. 

The  legislature  of  Maine  adopted,  and  trans-  Alarm 
mitted    to    Washington,    resolutions    originating   Jj^     j. 
with    the    federal    relations    committee    of    the   Maine 
assembly,  in  which  Confederation  was  condemned 
on  the  ground  that  it  would  establish  monarchi- 
cal   government    on    the    North    American    con- 
tinent.    In  its  alarm  the  legislature  at  Augusta 
overlooked  the  fact  that  a  legislature,  organized 
under   the   monarchical    system,   had   existed   in 
Nova  Scotia  for  more  than  a  century  before  the 
Charlottetown  and  Quebec  conventions  of  1864; 
and  that  in  1867  there  were  no  fewer  than  five 
legislatures    on    the   North    American    continent 
that    were    opened    and    closed    with    speeches 
from  the  throne. 

The    preamble    to    the    Augusta    resolutions   RepubU- 
disclaimed  any  desire  to  accelerate  the  progress   ^    , 
of   republican    principles    in    the    British    North   and 
American    provinces.     The    conviction    was    ex-   ^^^' 
pressed     that     "republican     institutions     should 
never  be  assumed  by  any  people  until  the  whole 
population   has   been   inured   to   habits   of  self- 
government,   and   thoroughly   imbued   with   the 

[  201  ] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

principle  of  implicit  obedience  to  law,  whenever 
that  law  is  the  declared  will  of  a  majority." 
Objection       The   first   resolution   declared   that    "any   at- 

MrThTcai    ^^"^P^  ^^  ^^^  P^^^  of  ^^^  imperial  government 
govern-      of  Great  Britain  to  establish  monarchical  govern- 
"^®'^*         ment    in    North   America,    or   to    place    a   vice- 
royalty,  by  act  of  parliament,  over  her  several 
North  American  provinces,  would  be  an  implied 
infraction    of    those    principles    of    government 
which  this  nation  has  assumed  to  maintain  upon 
this  continent." 
Remon-  By  the  second  of  these  resolutions  the  people 

from*^^      of  Maine,  "deeply  interested  in  the  preservation 
Washing-   of  peace,  and  of  friendly  relations  with  the  people 
*ested^'     of    British    North    America,"     respectfully    ap- 
pealed   to    the    United    States    government    "to 
interpose    its    legitimate    influence,    in    friendly 
and     earnest     remonstrance     with     the     British 
government,     against    establishing    any    system 
of  government  in  North  America  the  influence 
of  which  would  endanger  the  friendly  relations  of 
the    people   of   the    British    provinces   with    the 
people  of  the  United  States." 
Banks,  of        Copies    of   the    resolutions    were    transmitted 
^uletts     ^y  ^^^  governor  of  Maine  to  President  Johnson, 
urges         and  to  each  house  of  congress.     In    the   house 
acuon        ^£  representatives,^   Banks,   of  Massachusetts,   a 
former   chairman   of  the   committee   on    foreign 
aff"airs,  and  a  soldier  of  much  distinction  in  the 
civil  war,  called  attention  to  the  resolutions,  and 
1  March  8,  1867. 
[  202  ] 


mittee 
desired 


BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA  ACT 

made  a  motion  demanding  the  immediate  ap- 
pointment, by  the  speaker,  of  the  standing  com- 
mittee on  foreign  affairs.  Urgency  was  pleaded 
"in  view  of  events  transpiring  on  the  northern 
frontier,"  and  the  need  for  "considering  the  for- 
eign relations  of  the  United  States." 

"It  is  not  intended,"  said  Banks,  in  asking  a  com- 
the  house  to  adopt  his  motion,  "to  present  at 
this  time  any  protest  against  Confederation  of 
the  British  provinces.  The  resolutions  which  I 
have  read,  from  the  state  of  Maine,  were  read 
merely  for  information.  All  I  ask  is  that  a 
committee  shall  be  appointed,  to  which  any 
instructions,  in  reference  to  this  matter,  may  be 
given  by  the  house." 

Blaine,    of   Maine  —  James    Gillespie    Blaine,   "a 
afterwards   secretary  of  state   and   candidate  of  ^®fp®<^*- 

,        *ul    pro- 

the  Republican  party  for  the  presidency  in  test" 
1884  —  deprecated  any  action  by  congress, 
and  reminded  Banks  that  the  matter  "certainly 
could  not  go  beyond  a  mere  protest."  "The 
resolutions  of  the  state  of  Maine,"  Blaine  added, 
"do  not  contemplate  any  positive  action.  They 
contemplate  merely  a  respectful  protest." 

Banks,  however,  was  persistent.  His  object  The  per- 
was  the  immediate  appointment  of  the  com-  01^*3^3 
mittee  on  foreign  affairs,  with  an  instruction 
to  consider  the  resolutions  from  Augusta,  and 
report  to  the  house.  "This  question  of  Con- 
federation," he  said,  in  answer  to  Blaine,  "affects 
not  alone  the  interests  of  the  British  provinces. 

[203] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

It  affects  our  interests  also;  and  it  is  certainly 
proper  that  its  effects  upon  the  interest  of  this 
country  should  be  considered.  At  least  we 
should  have  an  organized  committee  that  shall 
have  power  to  consider  its  bearing  upon  our 
interests,  whether  it  be  for  the  purpose  of  making 
a  protest  or  for  more  decided  action.  It  is 
necessary  that  we  should  ascertain  the  full  effect 
of  this  measure  when  consummated,  and  that 
it  should  be  understood." 

Had  the  committee  been  named,  Banks  would 
probably  have  resumed  the  position  of  chairman, 
and  as  such  would  have  been  charged  with  the 
duty  of  drawing  up  the  report,  if  the  Augusta 
resolutions  had  been  sent  to  the  committee 
with  an  instruction. 
A  futile  The  house,  however,  took  no  action  in  the 
move-        direction  desired  by  Banks;  and  in  the  senate^ 

meat  in  . 

the  sen-     an  attempt  made  by  Simon  Cameron,  of  Penn- 
***  sylvania,     was     equally     futile.     Cameron     was 

desirous  that  the  committee  on  foreign  relations 
should  be  instructed  (i)  to  inquire  "upon  the 
facts  in  respect  to  the  design  of  foreign  powers 
to  impose  their  systems  of  monarchical  govern- 
ment upon  the  people  of  this  continent;  "  and  (2) 
to  report  "what  action,  if  any,  our  government 
should  take  to  avert  the  inevitable  consequences 
of  the  further  prosecution  of  such  designs,  and 
to  maintain  for  ourselves  and  for  our  posterity 
the  fundamental  principles  and  objects  of  the 
1  March  9. 
[204] 


BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA  ACT 

original  settlers  of  our  country  and  the  founders 
of  the  republic." 

Cameron  also  desired  that  the  committee 
should  be  "authorized  and  empowered  to  take 
such  measures  as  they  may  judge  expedient  and 
necessary  to  collect  and  submit  the  facts  for  the 
information  of  the  government  and  the  people." 

Obviously     the     senator     from     Pennsylvania   No  men- 
was    anxious    for  a   manifesto    against    Confed-   ^^°i 
eration.     Few    members    of   the    senate    shared   eration 
Cameron's   apprehensions   regarding   the    British   *? 
North   America   act;     and   no   new   duties   were   son's 
thrown  upon  the  committee  on  foreign  relations   ^^'^ 
as  a  result  of  the  resolution  of  which  he  gave 
notice.     President  Johnson,   Lincoln's   successor, 
did    not    even    mention    the    Confederation    of 
Canada  in  the  customary  survey  of  the  foreign 
relations    of   the    United    States    in    his    annual 
message  to  congress  on  December  3,  1867.^ 

These  discussions  in  congress  came   after  the   What 
British  North  America  bill  had  been  introduced   *^"" 

enced 

in  the  house  of  lords,  but  before  it  had  been  Derby 
read  a  third  time  in  the  house  of  commons. 
They  could  not  have  influenced  Derby  in  offer- 
ing the  suggestion  that  the  word  "dominion" 
be  substituted  for  "kingdom"  in  deference  to 
American  susceptibilities.  But  Derby  and  his 
son,  Lord  Stanley,  who  was  secretary  of  state 
for  foreign  affairs,  were  only  too  well  aware  of 

*  Cf.  Congressional  Globe y  March  8  and  9,  1867.  James 
D.  Richardson,  Messages  of  the  Presidents,  VI,  558-581. 

[205] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

the  extreme  tension  over  the  Alabama  claims, 
and  of  the  outbursts  it  was  provoking  in  the 
Dominion  United  States.  So  were  the  Fathers  of  Con- 
of  Canada  fg^jg^^tion  who  had  carried  the  bill  to  London. 
They  accepted  the  premier's  suggestion  made 
before  the  bill  was  introduced  in  the  house  of 
lords;  ^  and  when  the  Earl  of  Carnarvon,  the 
colonial  secretary,  announced  the  title  of  the 
new  Confederation  to  the  house  of  lords,  at 
second  reading  of  the  bill,  he  added,  "It  is  a 
designation  which  is  a  graceful  tribute  on  the 
part  of  the  colonies  to  the  monarchical  principle 
under  which  they  have  lived  and  prospered, 
a  principle  which  they  trust  to  transmit  unim- 
paired to  their  children's  children."  ^ 

II.  The  Attitude  of  Parliament,  the  Colonial  Office^ 
and  the  People  of  Great  Britain  towards  the 
New  Dominion 

Parliament  There  was  no  contention  over  the  bill,  either 
BWtish  ^"  ^^^  house  of  lords  where  it  was  introduced,  or 
North  in  the  house  of  commons.  It  was  before  the 
America  ^Quge  of  lords  Only  four  days.^  The  house  of 
commons  spent  no  longer  time  on  it.^  Additional 
schedules  were  added  by  Adderley,  under- 
secretary for  the  colonies,  when  the  bill  was  in 
committee.     But    only    one    amendment  —  little 

1  Cf.  George  M.  Wrong,  "The  Creation  of  the  Federal 
System  in  Canada,"  "The  Federation  of  Canada,"  22,  23. 

2  H.  L,  Debates,  February  19,  1867. 

3  February  19,  22,  25,  26.    *  February  27,  March  4,  7,  8. 

[  206  ] 


act 


BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA  ACT 

more  than  a  parliamentary  draftsman's  amend- 
ment —  was  made  to  the  bill.  This  was  the  only- 
amendment  made  in  either  the  lords  or  the 
commons  to  an  act  which  in  the  Pickering  edition 
of  the  British  statutes  extends  to  thirty-three 
closely  printed  pages. 

One  member  of  the  house  of  commons,  Roebuck,  No 
of  Sheffield,  regretted  that  the  act  did  not  create  s"p^«™« 
a  supreme  court,  with  functions  similar  to  those 
of  the  supreme  court  at  Washington.  Cardwell, 
who  had  been  secretary  for  the  colonies  in  the 
Whig  administration  of  1 859-1 866,  and  who 
from  the  front  opposition  bench  helped  Adderley 
to  pilot  the  bill  through  committee,  answered 
this  objection.  **As  matters  now  stand,"  he 
said,  "if  the  legislature  acted  ultra  vires  the 
question  would  first  be  raised  in  the  colonial  law 
courts,  and  would  ultimately  be  settled  by  the 
privy  council.  No  doubt  it  was  a  defect.  But 
the  point  had  undergone  consideration  by  the 
delegates,  who  thought  it  would  be  better  to 
leave  things  in  this  state."  ^ 

1  H.  C.  Debates,  March  4,  1867.  In  the  early  years  of 
Confederation,  when  there  were  many  questions  at  issue 
between  the  dominion  government  and  the  governments 
of  the  provinces,  there  was  a  movement  dt  Ottawa  in  favor 
of  the  creation  of  a  supreme  court.  "It  is  worthy  of  con- 
sideration," wrote  Sir  John  Young,  governor-general  from 
1868  to  1869,  to  the  Earl  of  Granville,  then  secretary  of  state 
for  the  colonies,  "whether  it  would  not  be  expedient  to 
establish  a  tribunal  with  powers  analogous  to  those  of  the 
supreme  court  of  the  United  States,  for  the  decision  of  all 

[207] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Fathers  of 
Confed- 
eration 


Framers 
of  consti- 
tution 
given  a 
free  hand 


Viscount  Monck  had  succeeded  Head  in  1866 
as  governor-general.  Monck,  like  Head,  did 
all  that  was  constitutionally  possible  to  forward 
Confederation,  and  he  has  a  distinguished  place 
in  Canadian  history  for  his  services  in  the  crisis 
of  1 864-1 867.  But  the  task  of  framing  the 
resolutions  on  which  the  British  North  America 
act  was  based  —  the  task  so  successfully  per- 
formed at  Quebec  in  October,  1 864  —  was 
achieved  by  the  thirty-three  men  who  in  Canada 
today  are  always  spoken  of  with  veneration  as 
the  Fathers  of  Confederation.^ 

There  was  no  steering  of  the  Quebec  conven- 
tion by  any  representative  of  the  colonial  ojffice. 
About  this  time  an  act  was  passed  by  the  imperial 
parliament  empowering  all  legislatures  in  colonies 
with  representative  and  responsible  government 
to  amend  their  constitutions  as  they  deemed 
expedient.  At  Westminster,  Confederation  was 
regarded  as  a  matter  which  concerned  the  British 
North  American  provinces.  Consequently  the 
questions  of  constitutional  law  and  conflict  of  jurisdiction." 
"I  see  no  reason,"  wrote  Granville,  on  May  8,  1869,  "for  the 
establishment  of  such  a  tribunal.  Any  question  of  this  kind 
could  be  entertained  and  decided  by  the  local  courts,  subject 
to  an  appeal  to  the  judicial  committee  of  the  privy  council; 
and  it  does  not  appear  in  what  respect  this  mode  of  determi- 
nation is  likely  to  be  inadequate  or  unsatisfactory."  —  Ses- 
sional papers  of  Canada,  1870,  No.  35,  4-5. 

1  A  complete  list  of  the  Fathers  of  Confederation,  with  the 
names  of  the  provinces  they  represented  at  the  Quebec  con- 
vention, is  given  on  pages  121-22  of  Audet's  "Canadian  His- 
torical Dates  and  Events." 

[  208  ] 


BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA  ACT 

Fathers  of  Confederation  were  given  a  free  hand. 
Their  mission  at  Quebec  was  to  agree  on  a  plan 
which  would  bring  the  provinces  into  union,  and 
they  went  about  their  great  task  with  the  confi- 
dent feeling  that  their  plan  would  be  promptly 
accepted  by  the  colonial  office  and  by  parliament 
at  Westminster. 

At  the  Quebec  convention  the  United  Provinces   Fathers 
were    represented    by    twelve    delegates;     Nova   ?nfd 
Scotia  by  five;  New  Brunswick  by  seven;   Prince   eration 
Edward  Island  by  seven;    and  Newfoundland  by 
two.     Of  these  thirty-three   delegates,   the   men 
who    achieved    greatest    distinction    from    their 
part  in  bringing  about  Confederation,  and  from 
their  subsequent  careers  in  the  political  life  of 
the    Dominion,    were    Alexander   Tulloch    Gait, 
George  Brown,  John  Alexander  Macdonald,  and 
Oliver    Mowat,    of    Ontario;     George    Etienne 
Cartier  and  Thomas  Darcy  McGee,  of  Quebec; 
Charles  Tupper,   of  Nova   Scotia;    and   Samuel 
Leonard  Tilley,  of  New  Brunswick. 

England    watched    with    appreciative    interest   No  party 
the   conventions   in   Charlottetown    and   Quebec   *^°*'°' 
which  led  up  to  Confederation.     At  Westminster   over 
the  British  North  America  bill  aroused  no  party   ^'  ^'  ^' 
controversies.     At   this   time   the    people   of  the   west- 
United  Kingdom  were  engrossed  by  the  fortunes   ™^^*®^ 
of  the  bill  of  the  Derby  government  extending 
the    parliamentary    franchise    in    the    boroughs, 
—  the  first  extension   of  the  electoral  franchise 
since  1832,  —  and,  moreover,  in  1867  the  era  of 

[  209  ] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

popular  indifference  to  oversea  possessions  had 
not  yet  come  to  an  end. 
Popular         The   popular   attitude   towards   Confederation 
atmud©     ^^g  ^gjl  expressed  by  the  Times,  in  its  survey 
Britain       of  the  year.     "India  and  the  colonies,"  reads  a 
c^?      paragraph    in    this    survey,    "have    enjoyed    an 
eration       Unbroken  tranquillity.     The  British  provinces  of 
North  America  have  formally  assumed  the  title 
of  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  and  the  experiment 
of   confederation    or   union    promises    favorably. 
The  colonial  office,  once  the  most  onerous  depart- 
ment  in    the   imperial   government,    is   now,    in 
great    measure,    relieved    of   its    legislative    and 
administrative  functions."  ^ 
Confed-  How  the  Creation  of  the  Dominion  was  regarded 

from°'^  by  the  Derby-Disraeli  government  may  be 
point  of  judged  from  the  queen's  speech  at  the  end  of 
Derb°-  ^^^  session  of  the  imperial  parliament  of  1867. 
Disraeu  "The  act  for  the  union  of  the  British  North 
American  provinces,"  it  read,  "is  the  final 
accomplishment  of  a  scheme  long  contemplated, 
whereby  these  colonies,  now  combined  in  the 
Dominion,  may  be  expected  not  only  to  gain 
additional  strength  for  the  purposes  of  defense 
against  external  aggression,  but  may  be  united 
among  themselves  by  fresh  ties  of  mutual  interest, 
and  attached  to  the  mother-country  by  the  only 
bonds  which  can  effectually  secure  important 
dependencies,  those  of  loyalty  to  the  crown  and 
attachment  to  the  British  connection."  ^ 

^  Annual  Summaries  Reprinted  from  the  Times,  I,  266. 
2  H.  L.  Debates,  August  21,  1867. 

[210] 


ment 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  DOMINION  A  FEDERAL 
UNION 

CONFEDERATION  involved    quite   impor-  changes 
tant   changes   in   political  organization  for  ^y„^ 
the  provinces  which  came  under  the  terms  of  the  organ- 
British   North  America   act  — Ontario,   Quebec,  ^^^^^'^ «' 

^-  provinces 

Nova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick,  Prince  Edward 
Island,  and  British  Columbia.  These  changes 
were  necessary  because  each  province  had  thence- 
forward to  elect  two  groups  of  parliamentary- 
representatives;  one  for  the  Dominion  house  of 
commons,  and  the  other  for  the  provincial  legisla- 
ture; and  also  because  each  of  the  provinces  at 
Confederation  ceded  some  of  its  powers  to  the 
Dominion  government. 

After  Confederation  the  relations  of  the  colonial   colonial 
office  in  London  were  only  with  the  government   °®^® 
at   Ottawa,    and    not    with    the    five    provincial    changes 
capitals,    as   in   the   period   from    1846   to    1867.    Jf 
Except  for  this  fact,  and  for  the  fact  that  after   eration 
1878  an  end  was  made  in  practice  to  the  reserva- 
tion of  bills  by  the  governor-general,^  it  cannot  be 
said  that  there  was  any  change  in  the   relations 
between  the  government  in  Canada  and  the  im- 
perial government  at  Westminster. 

1  Cf.  Z,  A.  Lash,  "The  Working  of  Federal  Institutions 
in  Canada."  —  "The  Federation  of  Canada,"  80-85. 

[211] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Few  new        Power  was  given  in  the  British  North  America 
??!!!,?♦«    act  to  the  Dominion  parHament  to  create  new 

accrue  to  ^  ... 

Dominion  provinces  out  of  the  territories  lying  between  the 
Great  Lakes  and  the  Rocky  Mountains  —  a 
power  which  was  exercised  in  1870,  when  Mani- 
toba was  organized  as  a  province/  and  again  in 
1905  when  Saskatchewan  and  Alberta  were 
created.  Otherwise  it  cannot  be  said  that  any 
additional  freedom  or  any  important  new  powers 
accrued  to  Canada  at  Confederation. 
Why  In  the  period  between  1841  and  1867,  as  has 

TOWCTs^  been  shown  in  the  preceding  pages,  the  govern- 
ment at  Whitehall  had,  sometimes  promptly 
and  cordially,  sometimes  tardily  and  grudgingly, 
conceded  everything  that  had  been  asked  by  the 
United  Provinces  and  the  Maritime  Provinces. 
It  had  conceded  so  much,  and  had  obtained  so 
little  in  return,  that  in  September,  1866,  when 
the  Derby  government  was  faced  with  the 
problem  of  the  defense  of  the  British  North 
American  provinces,  Disraeli,  who  was  then 
chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  deemed  that  the 
time  had  come  for  reconsidering  the  position 
of  the  British  government  in  relation  to  these 
outlying  portions  of  the  empire.  "We  must,'* 
he  wrote  to  Derby,  "consider  our  Canadian 
position,  which   is  most  illegitimate.     An   army 

^  Note  also  an  act  respecting  the  establishment  of  prov- 
inces in  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  which  received  the  royal 
assent  on  June  29,  1871.  —  British  Statutes,  34  and  35  Vict., 
C.78. 

[212] 


THE  DOMINION  A   FEDERAL  UNION 


maintained  in  a  country  which  does  not  permit 
us  even  to  govern  it!    What  an  anomaly!"  ^ 

Long  before  Confederation  the  British  North 
American  provinces  had  secured  nearly  all  the  es- 
sentials of  autonomy.  They  had  obtained  nearly 
all  the  powers  they  could  ask  or  expect,  if  they 
were  to  remain  of  the  British  Empire  and  under 
the  British  crown.  They  all  enjoyed  representa- 
tive and  responsible  government.  Each  since  1859 
had  been  almost  completely  master  of  its  own 
fiscal  system,  although  only  Ontario  and  Quebec 
had  used  this  power  to  levy  protective  duties  on 
imports  from  the  United  Kingdom.  All,  except 
British  Columbia,  had  enjoyed  the  right  of 
reciprocal  trade  with  the  United  States,  and  had 
received  from  the  United  States,  in  return  for 
adequate  concessions  made  by  the  United  Prov- 
inces and  the  Maritime  Provinces,  tariff  con- 
cessions which  were  denied  by  the  United  States 
to  Great  Britain. 

The  imperial  government  in  1 850-1 854  had 
greatly  exerted  itself  through  its  minister  at 
Washington,  and  through  Elgin,  the  governor- 
general,  to  secure  reciprocal  trade  between  the 
United  States  and  the  United  Provinces,  the 
Maritime  Provinces,  and  Newfoundland.  But 
the  terms  and  conditions  of  the  treaty  were  left 
to  the  statesmen  of  the  provinces  to  determine 
as  seemed  best  for  the  interests  of  the  provinces; 
and  so  far  as  the  British  government  was  con- 


provinces 

before 
Confed- 
eration 


Partial 

treaty- 
making 
power 
exercised 
by 

provinces 
inl8M 


1  Buckle,  IV,  476. 


C213] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

cerned   the   treaty   might   have   been   continued 
indefinitely  so  long  as  the  British  provinces  found 
reciprocity    to    their    advantage,    as    they    un- 
doubtedly did  from  1854  to  1866.^ 
Fewer  All   the   ptovinces   before   Confederation    pos- 

*^*™*^"      sessed  the  power  to  amend  their  constitutions  as 

tions  to  .  . 

governors-  their  legislatures  might  deem  advisable.  Before 
general      Confederation  there  had   also  been  far-reachins; 

after  IMl  j-^         •  r        i  •  •  • 

modincations  01  the  instructions  given  to 
governors-general  and  governors  on  their  appoint- 
ment to  the  capitals  of  the  provinces.  These 
modifications  were  necessary  owing  to  the  large 
measure  of  home  rule  enjoyed  by  all  the  provinces 
between  1841  and  1867. 
Fewer  The  classes  of  bills  that  might  be  reserved  for 

transmission  to  the  colonial  office  before  approval 
by  the  governor-general,  or  the  governors  of 
British  Columbia,  Nova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick, 
and  Prince  Edward  Island,  had,  in  consequence 
of  the  larger  measure  of  home  rule,  also  been 
much  restricted,  thereby  increasing  the  powers 
of  the  legislatures  and  the  authority  of  the 
cabinets.  There  were,  therefore,  few  new  powers 
to  be  asked  from  the  imperial  government  by 
the  Fathers  of  Confederation. 
Powers  The    fullness   of   the   concessions   to   the    old 

accruing  gj-j^isj^  Notth  American  provinces  was  made 
Dominion  obvious  by  half  a  century's  experience  of  the 
1867  to  working  of  the  British  North  America  act. 
1914  1  Qf    Porritt,   "Sixty  Years  of  Protection  in  Canada," 

79-118. 
[214] 


bUls 
reserved 


THE  DOMINION  A    FEDERAL  UNION 

From  1867  to  the  outbreak  of  the  war  in  1914, 
the  imperial  government  was  even  more  ready- 
to  make  concessions  than  it  had  been  from  1840 
to  Confederation.  The  growth  and  development 
of  Canada  created  new  needs,  needs  which  had 
not  existed  when  there  were  not  more  than 
two  or  three  million  people  in  all  the  British 
North  American  provinces.  But  in  these  forty- 
seven  years  —  1867  to  1914  —  the  Dominion 
had  sought,  had  had  bestowed  on  her,  or  had 
asserted,  only  six  rights  or  powers  which  had  not 
been  enjoyed  by  the  United  Provinces  and  the 
Maritime  Provinces  between  1859  and  1867. 

The    rights   thus   obtained    by   the   Dominion   Treaty- 
between   1867   and   1914  were   (i)   the  right  to   "'^^'^ 
make   her   own   tidewater   coastwise   navigation   fuUy 
laws  —  a  right  first  exercised   in   1870;^    (2)  the   ^^'^ 
right  of  the  Dominion  cabinet  to  veto  a  nomina-   in  i907 
tion  to  the  office  of  governor-general  —  a  right 
that  has  existed  at  least  since  1882^;   (3)  the  right 
of  the  Dominion  to  direct  representation  on  the 
judicial  committee  of  the  privy  council  at  White- 
hall—  a  right  first  exercised  in   1897,  when  Sir 
Henry  Strong,  then  chief  justice  of  Canada,  took 
his  seat  on  the  judicial  committee;    (4)  the  right 
of  the  Dominion  to  decide  whether  it  will  be  a 
party  to  treaties  made  by  Great  Britain,  a  right 

^  The  United  Provinces  were  conceded  the  right  to  make 
their  own  inland  coastwise  navigation  laws  in  1847. 
*  Cf.  Bruce,  II,  205. 

[215] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

enjoyed  since  1872;  ^  (5)  the  right  of  the  Dominion 
to  make  her  own  immigration  laws,  and  to  exclude 
paupers  and  other  undesirables  from  the  United 
Kingdom  or  elsewhere  in  the  British  Empire  — 
a  right  first  asserted  and  exercised  in  1904;  and 
(6)  the  right  of  the  Dominion  to  appoint  her  own 
plenipotentiaries  for  the  negotiation  of  commercial 
treaties  and  conventions  —  a  right  partially 
conceded  as  early  as  1870,  and  fully  conceded  by 
the  imperial  government  in  1907 .^ 

I.     The  Cost  and  Advantages  of  Federal  Union 

Mac-  The  British  North  America  act  of  1867  estab- 

doimid's     ijgj^gj    ^   federal    as    distinct   from    a   legislative 

prefer-  ^  =» 

ence  for     union.     Macdonald,  one  of  the  Fathers  of  Con- 
I^on**^^*  federation,    who   was    the    first    premier   of  the 

*  At  the  present  time  the  British  government  never  nego- 
tiates a  treaty  without  putting  in  a  stipulation  that  this 
treaty  does  not  apply  to  Canada,  or  any  of  the  self-governing 
dominions,  unless  they  are  willing  to  be  bound  by  it.  —  Speech 
by  Sir  Wilfred  Laurier  at  Simcoe,  Ontario,  August  15,  191 1. 

2  It  may  be  briefly  noted  that  growing  out  of  the  war,  and 
out  of  the  prompt  and  self-sacrificing  part  that  Canada  and 
the  other  oversea  dominions  took  in  the  defense  of  the  empire 
and  of  civilization,  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  the  Common- 
wealth of  Australia,  the  Dominion  of  New  Zealand,  and  the 
Union  of  South  Africa  were  in  1916  claiming  a  part  in  formu- 
lating the  foreign  policy  of  the  empire.  (Cf.  Quarterly  Re- 
view, July,  19 16,  266-282.)  It  was  urged  that  foreign  policy 
and  imperial  defense  must  no  longer  be  determined  by  the 
cabinet  which  is  chosen  only  from  the  British  parliament, 
and  maintained  in  power  by  a  majority  in  the  house  of 
commons  at  Westminster. 

[216] 


THE  DOMINION  A  FEDERAL  UNION 

Dominion,  would  have  preferred  a  legislative 
union;'  and  Macdonald  did  not  lack  support  for 
this  preference  in  the  legislature  of  the  United 
Provinces.  Most  of  the  advocates  of  legislative 
union  urged  it  on  the  ground  of  economy. 

Had    such    a    union    been    possible,    economy  case 
might  have  resulted;    for  with   nine  provincial  '^^ 
legislatures,  and  as  many  provincial  capitals  and   lative 
governments,  in  addition  to  the  Dominion  par-   "°*°" 
liament,    the    Dominion    government,    and     the 
Dominion  capital,   Canada,   on   the   basis   of  its 
population   and   its  normal   expenditures  on  de- 
fence, is  the  most  expensively  governed  country 
in  the  English-speaking  world. 

A   legislative   union   might  have   greatly   hin-   Eastern 
dered  the  development  of  political  civilization  in   ^^ 
the  newer  provinces  of  Manitoba,  Saskatchewan,    Canada 
and    Alberta.     East    and    west    are    even    more 
accentuated  in  Canada  —  the  difference  is  more 
obvious  —  than  in  the  United  States.     As  regards 
political    thought    and    tendencies,    a    Canadian 
from  any  one  of  the  four  provinces  east  of  the 
Ottawa  River  enters  into  another  world  when  he 
crosses  the  "Bridge,"  and  settles  in  rural  Mani- 
toba, Saskatchewan,  or  Alberta. 

*  "Federalism  in  1861  had  received  a  staggering  blow 
by  the  apparent  breakdown  of  the  American  union  and  the 
beginning  of  the  civil  war.  This  breakdown  so  impressed 
the  mind  of  Macdonald  that  he  despaired  of  Federalism, 
and  had  fixed  his  attention  on  a  unitary  system  like  that 
of  the  United  Kingdom."  —  George  M.  Wrong,  "The  Crea- 
tion of  the  Federal  System  in  Canada,"  14-15. 

[217] 


ment 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Peculiar         A  legislative  union  with  a  house  of  commons 
^^Ime^^     and    senate,    controlled    by   majorities   from   the 
provinces    five  provinces  east  of  the  Great  Lakes,  would  have 
been    a  perpetual    brake    on    the   three    prairie 
provinces.     It  would  have  been  a  hindrance  for 
these  provinces,  on  which  in  the  second  decade 
of  the  twentieth  century  the  material  prosperity 
of  all   Canada  largely  depended.^ 
Taxation         During  their  rapid  development  from   1905  to 
not  only*  19^4'  ^^e  prairie  provinces  acted  on  the  convic- 
functions    tion  that  taxation  and  police  are  not  the  only 
o  govern-  fuj^^tions  of  government.     They  developed  poli- 
cies in  regard  to  public  utilities  —  grain  elevators, 
street-car   lines,   telephone    systems,  and   water, 
light,  and  power  undertakings  —  more  in  accord 
with   English   and  Scottish  precedents  than  with 
the  precedents  of  eastern  Canada  or  of  the  United 
States. 
Federal  Federal    union    has    been    costly    and    is    still 

^^  costly  to  Canada,  in  view  of  its  enormous  area 
its  cost  to  and  its  comparatively  small  and  scattered  popu- 
Canada  lotion.  Federal  union  has  its  inconveniences 
arising  from  some  of  the  direct  methods  of  taxa- 
tion in  use  in  the  various  provinces,  and  the 
lack  of  uniformity  as  regards  bankruptcy,  usury, 
and  other  laws  directly  affecting  commerce.     But 

^  "The  creation  of  western  Canada  is  the  most  splendid 
achievement  of  our  life  since  1867.  The  hope  of  that  great 
lone  land  has  been  realized  beyond  expectation."  —  R.  A.  Fal- 
coner (president  of  the  University  of  Toronto),  "The  Quality 
of  Canadian  Life,"  in  "The  Federation  of  Canada,"  120. 

[218] 


THE  DOMINION  A  FEDERAL  UNION 

no  student  of  the  political  and  economic  and 
social  development  of  Canada  since  1867  —  no 
student  who  can  survey  the  various  needs  and 
economic  and  social  characteristics  of  the  nine 
provinces  of  the  Dominion  —  will  deny  that 
federal  union  has  been,  and  is,  worth  all  that 
it  has  cost,  that  it  is  costing,  and  that  it  will 
cost.  Nor  will  he  desire  that  Macdonald  had 
carried  a  union  on  the  lines  of  his  first  plan  and 
wishes. 

A   legislative   union   might   today   be   possible    Legisia- 
for  the  prairie  provinces,  with  little  interference    ^0^31^ 
with   the   federal    system.     A   legislative   union,   Canada 
it  has  long  been  contended,  is  possible  for  the   ^^^^^ 
Maritime  Provinces,  and  such  a  union  might  be 
much  to  their  advantage.     But  experience  from 
1 841  to  1867,  and  from  1867  to  the  jubilee  year 
of  Confederation,  has   shown  that  a  legislative 
union  was  never  desirable  for  the  Dominion.^ 

^  In  the  Mail  of  Toronto,  of  January  6,  1880,  there  was 
a  review  of  twelve  years'  working  of  the  system  of  govern- 
ment that  was  established  in  1867.  "The  local  system," 
it  read,  "has  been  in  existence  only  twelve  years.  During 
that  time  it  has,  on  the  whole,  worked  well.  Certainly  it 
will  not  be  contended  that  the  business  of  the  province  of 
Ontario  would  have  been  transacted  as  well  or  more  cheaply 
by  a  legislative  union.  The  bitter  experiences  of  the  politi- 
cal vendetta  that  rent  Upper  and  Lower  Canada,  and  made 
the  union  of  1841  a  grim  satire  on  unity,  ought  to  satisfy 
every  thinking  man  that  such  a  form  of  government  is  not 
suited  for  a  country  of  mixed  races.  It  is  tolerably  certain, 
indeed,  that  if  one  parliament  had  to  deal  with  the  local  as 
well  as  the  general  interests  of  the  seven  provinces,  the  work 

[219] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

II.   The  Forces  against  a  Legislative  Union 

Quebec  Howevcr  desirable  legislative  union  might  have 

ouHor       seemed  to  the  advocates  of  economy,  it  was  a 
federal       plan  which  in  1 864-1 867  could  never  have  been 
^^^^        carried.     Quebec  would   hear  of  nothing   but   a 
federal    union.      The    attitude  of   the   Maritime 
Provinces  was  the  same  as  that  of  Quebec.     More- 
over, much  as  British  Columbia  desired  railway 
and    telegraph    lines    from    the   Atlantic   to    the 
Pacific  —  public  utilities  of  supreme  importance 
politically,   economically,   and   socially,  which   it 
could  obtain  only  by  union  with  eastern  Canada 
—  its  political  history  from  1850  to  1867  warrants 
the  assumption  that  the  Pacific  coast  province, 
with   its   almost   exclusively  English   population, 
and   its   dread   of  some   of  the   political,   racial, 
and  religious  conditions  that  had  developed  and 
become   rooted    in   Ontario   and   Quebec,    might 
have  long  held  aloof  if  a  legislative  union  had  been 
established  in  1867. 
No  choice       George  Brown,  leader  of  the  Liberal  party  of 
open  to      Upper  Canada,  told  the  advocates  of  legislative 
of  union  why  such  a  plan  was  not  possible,  when  he 

^^^^-      addressed  the  legislative  assembly  of  the  United 

eratlon  .  .  . 

Provinces  and  asked  it  to  indorse  the  resolutions 
of  the  Quebec  convention  of  October,  1864. 
"We  had,"  he  said,  in  recalling  the  deliberations 

would  be  badly  done,  if  done  at  all,  and  the  sectionalism 
that  now  curses  us  would  become  an  intolerable  drag  on 
progress  and  a  perpetual  danger  to  the  state." 

[  220  ] 


THE  DOMINION  A  FEDERAL  UNION 


of  the  convention,  "to  take  federal  union  or  drop 
the  negotiations.  Not  only  were  our  friends 
from  Lower  Canada  against  legislative  union, 
but  so  were  most  of  the  delegates  from  the  Mari- 
time Provinces.  There  was  but  one  choice  open 
to  us  —  federal  union  or  nothing."  ^ 

At  Westminster  there  were  tried  and  sincere 
friends  of  self-government  in  the  colonies  that 
are  now  of  the  Dominions  who  in  1867  would  have 
preferred  a  legislative  union  for  the  Dominion 
of  Canada.  Foremost  among  them  was  Russell 
—  Lord  John  Russell  of  the  act  of  union  of  1840. 
Carnarvon  had  these  advocates  of  legislative 
union  in  mind  when,  in  introducing  the  British 
North  America  bill  to  the  house  of  lords,  he  came 
to  the  clause  establishing  federal  union. 

It  is  true  —  said  the  colonial  secretary  of  the  Derby- 
Disraeli  administration  of  1866-1868  —  that  no  federation 
can  be  as  compact  as  a  single  homogeneous  state,  though  the 
compactness  will  vary  with  the  strength  or  weakness  of  the 
central  government.  It  is  true  that  federation  may  be  com- 
paratively a  loose  bond,  but  the  alternative  is  no  bond  at 
all.  Federation  is  only  possible  under  certain  conditions, 
when  the  states  to  be  federated  are  so  far  akin  that  they 
can  be  united,  and  yet  so  far  dissimilar  that  they  cannot 
be  fused  into  one  single  body  politic;  and  this  I  believe  to 
be  the  present  conditions  of  the  provinces  of  British  North 
America. 

Carnarvon  realized  that  there  might  be  diffi- 
culties even  with  federal  union.     But  he  believed 
that  the  Dominion  of  Canada  enjoyed  one  con- 
1  Mackenzie,  335,  336. 

[221  ] 


Russell's 
prefer- 
ence for 
federal 


Carnar- 
von 
on 

federal 
bond 


Crown 
and 
federal 
onion 


EVOLUTION   OF    THE    DOMINION  OF  CANADA 

spicuous  advantage  lacking  in  confederations  in 
non-British  countries.  "It  is  to  be  remembered," 
he  said,  "that  unhke  every  other  federation  that 
has  existed,  the  federation  of  British  North  Ameri- 
can provinces  derives  its  poHtical  existence  from 
an  external  authority.  It  derives  it  from  that 
which  is  the  recognized  source  of  power  and  rights 
—  the  British  crown."  "And  I  cannot  but  recog- 
nize in  this,"  Carnarvon  added,  "some  security 
against  those  conflicts  of  state  rights  and  central 
authority  which  in  other  federations  have  some- 
times proved  so  disastrous."  ^ 

^  H.  L.  Debates,  February  19,  1867. 


[2223 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE      DISTRIBUTION      OF       POWERS 

BETWEEN     THEDOMINION     AND 

PROVINCIAL     GOVERNMENTS 

THE  success  of  the  United  States  under  the   Lessons 
federal   system  stimulated  the  first  stages   ^^ 
of  the  movement  in  the  United  Provinces  for  a   war  of 
union  of  all  the   British  North  American  prov-   J??J" 
inces.      But    as    the    movement    was    gradually 
pushed    forward  —  as    confederation    of   all    the 
provinces,  or  a  federal  union  of  Upper  and  Lower 
Canada,    was    coming    into    sight  —  disturbing 
conditions  developed  in  the  United  States  which 
brought  about  the  civil  war  of  1 861-1865. 

The  Fathers  of  Confederation  noted  these 
ominous  conditions,  and  realized  that  they  must 
establish  a  federal  union  with  a  constitution  that 
would  reduce  to  a  minimum  the  likelihood  of 
serious  friction  between  the  central  government 
and   the  various   provincial  governments. 

In  the  session  of  the  legislature  of  the  United   Avoiding 
Provinces  of   i860  —  soon    after   the   mission  of   *^°"*»^® 

over 

Gait  and  Cartier  to  London  in  the  interest  of   provincial 
confederation  —  John    A.    Macdonald    made    a   ^^^ 
speech  in  the  assembly  in  which  he  insisted  that 
in  the  constitution  for  the  British  provinces  some 
dangers  which   he   regarded   as   inherent   in   the 
constitution  of  the  United  States  must  be  avoided. 

[223] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Mac- 
donald's 
conception 
of 

American 
consti- 
tution 


A  strong 
central 
govern- 
ment 
essential 


Where 
framers 
of  consti- 
tution   of 
United 
States 
erred 


"The  fatal  error  which  they  have  committed/' 
he  said,  in  alluding  to  the  struggle  over  states' 
rights,  "and  it  was  perhaps  unavoidable  from  the 
state  of  the  American  colonies  at  the  time  of  the 
revolution,  was  in  making  each  state  a  distinct 
sovereignty.  The  fatal  error  was  made  in  giving 
to  each  state  distinct  sovereign  power,  except 
in  those  instances  where  powers  were  specially 
reserved  by  the  constitution,  and  conferred 
upon  the  general  government." 

"The  true  principle  of  confederation,"  continued 
the  statesman  of  the  United  Provinces,  who  in 
1867  was  created  Knight  Commander  of  the 
Bath  for  his  services  at  Confederation,  "lies  in 
giving  to  the  general  government  all  the  principles 
and  powers  of  sovereignty,  and  in  the  provision 
that  the  subordinate  or  individual  states  should 
have  no  powers  but  those  expressly  bestowed  on 
them.  We  should  thus  have  a  powerful  central 
government,  a  powerful  central  legislature,  and 
a  powerful  decentralized  system  of  minor  legis- 
latures for  local  purposes."  ^ 

The  principles  of  distribution  of  powers  between 
the  Dominion  and  the  provincial  governments 
which  Macdonald  thus  enunciated  in  i860  were 
reiterated  by  him  at  the  Quebec  convention  of 
1864.  He  recalled  poHtical  conditions  in  the 
recently  revolted  American  colonies  at  the  time 
when  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  was 
framed. 


1  Boyd,  1 81-182. 


[224] 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  POWERS 

"There  were,"  he  said,  "thirteen  individual 
sovereignties,  quite  distinct  the  one  from  the 
other.  The  error  at  the  formation  of  these  con- 
stitutions was  that  each  state  reserved  to  itself 
all  sovereign  rights,  save  small  portions  dele- 
gated. We  must  reverse  the  decision  by  strength- 
ening the  general  government,  and  conferring  on 
the  provincial  bodies  only  such  powers  as  may  be 
required  for  local  purposes."  ^ 

The  principles  which  Macdonald  had  thus 
twice  enunciated  were  adopted  at  Quebec.^     It 

1  "The  framers  of  the  constitution  of  Canada,"  wrote  ex- 
President  Taft,  in  the  National  Geographic  Magaziney  Wash- 
ington, March,  19 16,  "thought  it  an  improvement  on  the 
constitution  of  the  United  States  in  that  the  defects  which  the 
constitution  of  the  United  States  was  supposed  to  have  shown 
in  the  civil  war  were  corrected."  Mr.  Taft  quoted  Mac- 
donald's  speech  at  Quebec.  "I  think,"  he  continued,  "it 
is  the  general  opinion  now  that  this  view  of  the  constitution 
of  the  United  States  was  a  mistaken  one.  The  adoption  of 
the  13th,  14th,  and  15th  amendments  strengthened  somewhat 
the  restraint  upon  state  legislatures  enforceable  in  the  supreme 
court  of  the  United  States,  but  generally  the  division  of  power 
between  the  states  and  the  general  government  remained  the 
same.  And  yet  as  our  congress  has  exercised  powers  which 
she  always  had,  but  which  she  had  not  before  exercised, 
the  strength  of  the  central  government  is  seen  to  be  quite 
all  that  it  ought  to  be.  There  is  danger  that  a  great  widening 
of  the  field  of  federal  activity,  and  a  substantial  diminution  of 
state  rights,  would  in  the  end  threaten  the  integrity  of  our 
union  instead  of  promoting  it." 

2  "Canada  is  a  single  state,  in  which  the  various  units 
have  prescribed  powers:  the  United  States  is  a  union  of  many 
states,  which  have  agreed  to  delegate  certain  powers  to  a 

[225] 


donald's 
views 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Quebec      was  agreed  that  in  the  division  of  powers  between 

convention  ^.j^^  Dominion  and  the  provincial  governments  the 

Mac-         residuum  should  be  in  the  Dominion  government, 

and  not  be  reserved  either  to  the  provinces  or  to 

the  people,  as  in  the  constitution  of  the  United 

States.^ 

No  The    plan   was    apparently    adopted    without 

contention  contention;    for  Tupper,   in  his   recollections  of 

division      the  Convention,  writes  that  there  was  "a  wonder- 

of  powers    £^^  accord  among  the  various  representatives  in 

regard  to  general  principles  involved  in  drafting 

a  basis  of  union."  ^    Xhis  unanimity  was  eulogized 

by   Adderley,    under-secret ary   for    the   colonies, 

when  the  British  North  America  bill  was  before 

the  house  of  commons  at  Westminster.^ 


I.  The  Powers  of  the  Dominion  Parliament 

Camar-  Carnarvon,  in  introducing  the  bill  to  the  house 

von's        of  lords,  characterized  the  clauses  which  effected 

case  for  .        .  . 

strong  the  distribution  of  powers  as  "the  most  delicate 
central  and  important  part  of  the  measute."  "In  this," 
he  said,  "I  think  is  comprised  the  main  theory 
and  constitution  of  federal  government.  On 
this  depends  the  practical  working  of  the  new 
scheme." 


govern- 
ment 


central    authority."  —  George    M.    Wrong,    "The    Creation 
of  the  Federal  System  in  Canada,"  24. 

1  Cf.  Taft,   "Great  Britain's  Bread   upon  the  Waters," 
National  Geographic  Magazine,  March,  1916,  232. 

2  Tupper,  "  Recollections  of  Sixty  Years,"  40. 
»  Cf.  H.  C.  Debates,  February  27,  1867. 

[  226  ] 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  POWERS 


And  here  —  Carnarvon  continued  —  we  navigate  a  sea  of 
difficulties.  There  are  rocks  on  the  right  hand,  and  on  the  left. 
If,  on  the  one  hand,  the  central  government  be  too  strong, 
then  there  is  risk  that  it  may  absorb  the  local  action  and  that 
wholesome  self-government  by  the  provincial  bodies  which  it 
is  a  matter  of  both  good  faith  and  political  expediency  to 
maintain.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  central  government  is 
not  strong  enough,  there  arises  a  conflict  of  states'  rights  and 
pretensions.  Cohesion  is  destroyed,  and  the  effective  vigor 
of  central  authority  is  encroached  upon. 

Familiarity  with  Macdonald's  enunciation  of 
i860  and  1864  of  the  principles  on  which  he  desired 
that  the  federal  union  should  be  based  is  obvious 
in  Carnarvon's  next  remarks  on  the  distribution 
of  powers  effected  by  the  bill. 

The  real  object  we  have  in  view  —  he  said  —  is  to  give  to 
the  central  government  those  high  functions  and  almost 
sovereign  powers  by  which  general  principles  and  uniformity 
of  legislation  may  be  secured  in  those  questions  that  are  of 
common  import  to  all  the  provinces,  and  at  the  same  time 
retain  for  each  province  so  ample  a  measure  of  municipal 
liberty  and  self-government  as  will  allow  them,  and  indeed 
compel  them,  to  exercise  those  local  powers  which  they  can 
exercise  with  great  advantage  to  the  community. 

Carnarvon  made  no  claim  as  to  the  general 
superiority  of  the  constitution  of  the  Dominion 
over  the  constitution  of  the  United  States.  Such 
a  claim  was  left  to  the  advocates  of  the  new  con- 
stitution in  the  legislatures  of  the  several  British 
North  American  provinces.  ^  But  in  one  particu- 
lar he  was  confident  that  the  constitution  was 
superior  to  that  of  the  United  States. 
1  Cf.  Mackenzie,  309;   Boyd,  225. 

C  227  ] 


Munici- 
pal 

Uberty 
for 
provinces 


Claims 
of 

superi- 
ority over 
American 
consti- 
tution 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE   DOMINION  OF   CANADA 


criminal 
code 


Central  To   the   central    parliament  —  he   said,   when    explaining 

parlia-  the  clause  of  the  bill  dealing  with  the  criminal  code  and  the 
ment  and  administration  of  criminal  law  —  will  be  assigned  the  enact- 
ment of  criminal  law.  The  administration  of  it,  indeed,  is 
vested  in  the  local  authorities;  but  the  power  of  general 
legislation  is  very  properly  reserved  for  the  central  parliament. 
And  in  this,  I  cannot  but  note  a  wise  departure  from  the 
system  pursued  in  the  United  States,  where  each  state  is 
competent  to  deal,  as  it  may  please,  with  its  criminal  code, 
and  where  an  offense  may  be  visited  with  one  penalty  in  the 
state  of  New  York,  and  with  another  in  the  state  of  Virginia. 
The  system  proposed  is,  I  believe,  a  better  and  a  safer  one.^ 


Four 
groups 
of  powers 


Division 
I  — 
powers 
assigned 
to 

Dominion 
parlia- 
ment 


The  division  of  powers  made  by  the  British 
North  America  act  is  effected  by  a  distinct 
classification  into  four  divisions.  In  the  first 
division  are  those  subjects  which  are  assigned 
exclusively  to  the  Dominion  parliament.  In  the 
second  are  those  which  are  assigned  exclusively 
to  the  provincial  legislatures.  In  the  third  are 
the  subjects  of  concurrent  legislation,  such  as 
immigration  and  agriculture;  and  the  fourth  com- 
prises the  subject  of  education. 

The  section  of  the  act  assigning  subjects  to 
the  Dominion  parliament  declares  that  it  shall 
be  lawful  for  the  sovereign,  "by  and  with  the 
advice  and  consent  of  the  senate  and  the  house  of 
commons,  to  make  laws  for  the  peace,  order,  and 
good  government  of  Canada,  in  relation  to  all 
matters  not  coming  within  the  classes  of  subjects 
by  this  act  assigned  exclusively  to  the  legislatures 
of  the  provinces."     "And  for  greater  certainty," 


H.  L.  Debates,  February  19,  1867. 


[228] 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  POWERS 

it  continues,  "but  not  so  as  to  restrict  the  gener- 
ality of  the  foregoing  terms  of  this  section,  it  is 
hereby  declared,  notwithstanding  anything  in 
this  act,  that  the  exclusive  legislative  authority 
of  the  parliament  of  Canada  extends  to  all  matters 
coming  within  the  classes  of  subjects  next  here- 
inafter enumerated." 

Twenty-nine  subjects  are  enumerated.  They 
are  as  follows: 

1.  The  public  debt  and  property. 

2.  The  regulation  of  trade  and  commerce. 

3 .  The  raising  of  money  by  any  mode  or  system 
of  taxation. 

4.  The  borrowing  of  money  on  the  public 
credit. 

5.  Postal  service. 

6.  The  census  and  statistics. 

7.  Militia,  military  and  naval  service,  and 
defense. 

8.  The  fixing  of  and  providing  for  the  salaries 
and  allowances  of  civil  and  other  officers  of  the 
government  of  Canada. 

9.  Beacons,  buoys,  lighthouses,  and  Sable 
Island. 

10.  Navigation  and  shipping. 

11.  Quarantine,  and  the  establishment  and 
maintenance  of  marine  hospitals. 

12.  Seacoast  and  inland  fisheries. 

13.  Ferries  between  a  province  and  any  British 
or  foreign  country,  or  between  two  provinces. 

14.  Currency  and  coinage. 

[229] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

15.  Banking,  incorporation  of  banks,  and  the 
issue  of  paper  money. 

16.  Savings  banks. 

17.  Weights  and  measures. 

18.  Bills  of  exchange  and  promissory  notes. 

19.  Interest. 

20.  Legal  tender. 

21.  Bankruptcy  and  insolvency. 

22.  Patents  of  invention  and  discovery. 

23.  Copyrights. 

24.  Indians  and  lands  reserved  for  the  Indians. 

25.  Naturalization  and  aliens. 

26.  Marriage  and  divorce. 

27.  The  criminal  law,  except  the  constitution 
of  courts  of  criminal  jurisdiction,  but  including 
the  procedure  in  criminal  matters. 

28.  The  establishment,  maintenance,  and  man- 
agement of  penitentiaries. 

29.  Such  classes  of  subjects  as  are  expressly 
excepted  in  the  enumeration  of  the  classes  of 
subjects  by  this  act  assigned  exclusively  to  the 
legislatures  of  the  provinces. 

"And  any  matters  coming  within  any  of  the 
classes  of  subjects  enumerated  in  this  section," 
reads  the  paragraph  following  the  foregoing 
enumeration,  "shall  not  be  deemed  to  come 
within  the  class  of  matters  of  a  local  or  private 
nature  comprised  in  the  enumeration  of  the  classes 
of  subjects  by  this  act  assigned  exclusively  to  the 
legislatures  of  the  provinces." 

C  230  ] 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  POWERS 

II.  Powers  of  the  Provincial  Legislatures 

The  second  of  the  four  divisions  —  the  divisions  Division 
in  which  are  set  out  the  subjects  assigned  to  the  ° 
provincial  legislatures  —  is  prefaced  by  a  declara- 
tion that  "in  each  province  the  legislature  may 
exclusively  make  laws  in  relation  to  matters 
coming  within  the  classes  of  subjects  hereinafter 
enumerated."    They  are  as  follows: 

1.  The  amendment  from  time  to  time,  notwith- 
standing anything  in  this  act,  of  the  constitution 
of  the  province,  except  as  regards  the  office 
of  the  lieutenant-governor. 

2.  Direct  taxation  within  the  province,  in 
order  to  the  raising  of  a  revenue  for  provincial 
purposes. 

3.  The  borrowing  of  money  on  the  sole  credit 
of  the  province. 

4.  The  establishment  and  tenure  of  provincial 
offices,  and  the  appointment  and  payment  of 
provincial  officers. 

5.  The  management  and  sale  of  the  public 
lands  belonging  to  the  province,  and  of  the 
timber  and  wood  thereon. 

6.  The  establishment,  maintenance,  and  man- 
agement of  public  and  reformatory  prisons  in 
and  for  the  province. 

7.  The  establishment,  maintenance,  and  man- 
agement of  hospitals,  asylums,  charities,  and 
eleemosynary  institutions  in  and  for  the  prov- 
inces, other  than  marine  hospitals. 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

8.  Municipal  institutions  in  the  province. 

9.  Shop,  saloon,  tavern,  and  other  licenses, 
in  order  to  the  raising  of  a  revenue  for  provincial, 
local,  or  municipal  purposes. 

10.  Local  works  and  undertakings,  other  than 
such  as  are  of  the  following  classes: 

(a)  Lines  of  steam  or  other  ships,  railways, 
canals,  telegraphs,  and  other  works  and  under- 
takings connecting  the  province  with  any  other 
or  others  of  the  provinces,  or  extending  beyond 
the  limits  of  the  province; 

(b)  Lines  of  steamships  between  the  province 
and  any  British  or  foreign  country; 

(c)  Such  works  as,  although  wholly  situate 
within  the  province,  are  before,  or  after  their 
execution,  declared  by  the  parliament  of  Canada 
to  be  for  the  general  advantage  of  Canada,  or 
for  the  advantage  of  two  or  more  of  the  prov- 
inces. 

11.  The  incorporation  of  companies  with  pro- 
vincial objects. 

12.  Solemnization  of  marriage  in  the  province. 

13.  Property  and  civil  rights  in  the  province. 

14.  The  administration  of  justice  in  the  prov- 
ince, including  the  constitution,  maintenance, 
and  organization  of  provincial  courts,  both  of 
civil  and  criminal  jurisdiction,  and  including 
procedure  in  civil  matters  in  these  courts. 

15.  The  imposition  of  punishment  by  fine, 
penalty,  or  imprisonment,  for  enforcing  any  law 
of  the  province  made  with  relation  to  any  matter 

[232] 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  POWERS 

coming  within    any   of  the   classes   of  subjects 
enumerated  in  this  section. 

i6.   Generally  all  matters  of  a  merely  local  or 
private  nature  in  the  province. 

III.  Concurrent  Legislation 

The  third  division  —  concurrent  legislation  —  Division 
needs  a  few  words  of  explanation.  Long  before  ™ 
Confederation,  Upper  and  Lower  Canada,  Nova 
Scotia,  New  Brunswick,  and  British  Columbia 
had  possessed,  as  they  still  do  in  191 8,  large 
areas  of  crown  lands.  In  each  of  these  provinces, 
moreover,  laws  had  been  enacted  to  encourage 
immigration  from  the  United  Kingdom  with  a 
view  to  the  settlement  of  these  crown  lands. 
None  of  the  provinces  parted  with  the  control 
of  their  crown  lands  when  they  entered  the 
federal  union. 

At  Confederation  the  Dominion  was  possessed  crown 
of  no  crown  lands  that  were  available  for  colo-  ^^^ 
nization  on  a  large  scale.  Its  only  public  lands 
in  1867  were  military  and  naval  reservations, 
which,  at  Confederation,  were  ceded  by  the  im- 
perial government.  The  Dominion  government 
remained  without  so  much  as  a  quarter  section  of 
160  acres  to  offer  to  immigrants  until  it  acquired 
the  Hudson  Bay  Company's  territory  in  1869, 
and  parts  of  these  vast  areas  were  surveyed  and 
parceled  out  for  settlement. 

It  was  these  conditions  as  regards  crown  lands, 
and    also   the   fact   that   each   of  the   provinces 

C233] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Agri-  desired,  after  Confederation,  to  continue  its  own 
*^"iiTm  agricultural  policy,  that  resulted  in  the  third 
provinces    division   in   the   distribution   of  powers   effected 

by  the  British  North  America  act. 
immi-  There  is  only  one  section  in  this  third  division. 

gration 

and  In  each  province  —  it  reads  —  the  legislature  may  make 

agriculture  laws  in  relation  to  agriculture  in  the  province,  and  to  immi- 
gration into  the  province.  And  it  is  hereby  declared  that  the 
parliament  of  Canada  may,  from  time  to  time,  make  laws 
in  relation  to  agriculture  in  all  or  any  of  the  provinces,  and 
to  immigration  into  all  or  any  of  the  provinces;  and  any 
law  of  the  legislature  of  a  province,  relative  to  agriculture, 
or  to  immigration,  shall  have  effect  in  and  for  the  province 
as  long  and  as  far  only  as  it  is  not  repugnant  to  any  act  of  the 
parliament  of  Canada. 

Chinese  Except  that  the  legislature  of  British  Columbia 
has  frequently  passed  bills  restricting  Chinese 
immigration  into  the  province  —  bills  that  did 
not  become  law  because  they  were  disallowed  by 
the  government  at  Ottawa^  —  the  provincial 
legislatures  after  Confederation,  ceased  to  pass 
laws  regulating  immigration. 

The  Dominion  code,  administered  by  the 
department  of  immigration  and  colonization  at 
Ottawa,  has  long  been  the  only  law.  Dominion 

1  "By  virtue  of  sections  56  and  90  of  the  British  North 
America  act,  an  authentic  copy  of  every  provincial  act  has 
to  be  sent  to  the  governor-general;  and  if  the  governor- 
general  in  council,  within  one  year  after  receipt  thereof, 
think  fit  to  disallow  the  act,  such  disallowance,  being  signi- 
fied by  the  governor-general  in  the  manner  prescribed,  shall 
annul  the  act  from  and  after  the  day  of  such  signification."  — 
Lefroy,  "Canada's  Federal  System,"  81. 

[234] 


gration 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  POWERS 

or    provincial,    regulating    immigration.     But   in  immi- 

recent    years    all    the    provinces    except    Prince  ^^^°^ 

Edward  Island,  and  the  prairie  provinces,  which  gandaby 

have  no  lands  at  their  disposition  for  settlement,^  provincial 

L  J  1  1      •  1      •  •   •  govem- 

nave,  under  the  concurrent  legislative  provision  ments 
of  the  British  North  America  act,  enacted  laws 
under  which  immigration  propaganda  is  con- 
ducted in  the  United  Kingdom,  and  in  the  case 
of  Ontario  and  Quebec,  also  in  the  United  States. 
The  propaganda  of  these  provinces,  which  is 
distinct  from  the  propaganda  of  the  Dominion 
government,  on  which  fourteen  million  dollars 
were  expended  in  the  years  from  1897  to  1914,^ 
is  ill  the  interest  of  the  province  which  embarks 
on  it.  It  advertises  the  special  attractions  which 
the  province  offers  to  immigrants.  The  aim 
of  the  wider  propaganda,  long  maintained  by  the 
government  at  Ottawa,  is  to  attract  immigration 
to  the  Dominion  as  a  whole,  and  in  particular  to 
divert  a  stream  of  agrarian  immigration  to  the 
unoccupied  Dominion  crown  lands  in  the  grain- 
growing  provinces  west  of  the  Great  Lakes. 

IV.  The  Legislatures;  Parliament  and  the  Cabinet; 
Education 

The  fourth  division  in  the  distribution  of  powers   Division 
—  the  division  concerned  with  education  and  the   ^ 
powers  of  the  Dominion  and  provincial  govern- 

^  Crown  lands  in  Manitoba,  Saskatchewan,  and  Alberta 
are  under  the  control  of  the  Dominion  government. 

*  Cf.  "Immigration  Facts  and  Figures,  Ottawa,"  1915,  30. 

[235] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

ments  in  regard  to  it  —  gave  the  Fathers  of 
Confederation  more  trouble  than  almost  any  other 
provision  embodied  in  the  resolutions  on  which 
the  British  North  America  act  was  based.  The 
difficulty  arose  out  of  the  system  of  sectarian 
schools  established  in  Upper  Canada  under  an 
act  of  the  legislature  of  the  United  Provinces 
passed  in  1863. 
Separate  The  school  system  then  established  created 
schools  ^Qj.  Uppej.  Canada  what  have  since  been  known 
as  separate  schools  —  schools  for  Roman  Catho- 
lics and  schools  for  Protestants,  all  supported 
by  local  taxation,  and  under  the  management  of 
local  representatives,  with  some  supervision 
from  the  department  of  education  of  the  province. 
In  the  Catholic  schools  distinctly  Catholic 
teaching  is  given;  in  the  Protestant  schools  there 
is  no  teaching  of  the  beliefs  or  tenets  of  any 
denomination. 
Opposition  The  great  majority  of  the  people  of  Upper 
c  ^^^to  ^^"^^^  ^^^  ^^^  desire  separate  schools.  A  com- 
mon school  system,  with  schools  attended  by 
children  of  all  religions,  was  the  aim  of  the  Protes- 
tant population  of  Upper  Canada  in  the  years  of 
the  legislative  union.  But  in  the  era  of  the 
United  Provinces,  as  today,  there  were  areas 
in  Upper  Canada,  now  Ontario,  in  which  there 
were  large  settlements  of  French-Canadians, 
and  areas  settled  by  immigrants  from  Ireland. 
French-Canadians  in  the  legislature,  before 
1863,  had  insisted  on  separate  schools  for  Lower 

[236] 


separate- 
school 
Oystem 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  POWERS 

Canada;  and  in  the  interests  of  the  Roman 
Catholics  —  French-Canadian  and  Irish  —  they 
also  insisted,  from  1849  to  1863,  that  there  should 
be  a  separate  school  system  in  Upper  Canada. 

Fourteen    years    of    bitter    sectarian    contro-  Upper 
versy,  years  in  which  the  Roman  Catholics  in   ^^^ 
Upper  Canada  made  the  separate  school  question   cauon 
the    paramount     issue    in    politics,^    culminated   ^^353 
in  the  education  act  of  1863.     It  was  accepted 
by  the  Roman  Catholic  hierarchy  as  a  settle- 
ment —  a  settlement  which  relieved  the  Protes- 
tants of  Upper  Canada  from  "standing  constantly 
to  arms,"  as  George  Brown,  leader  of  the  Liberals, 
described   the  position,   "awaiting  fresh   attacks 
upon  our  school  system,"  as  they  had  been  com- 
pelled to  do  in  the  years  from  1849  ^^  1863. 

On  the  eve  of  Confederation  there  were  4,000 
common  schools  in  Upper  Canada.  Of  this 
number  100  were  separate  schools,  Roman 
Catholic  in  local  management  and  in  organization, 
atmosphere,  and  teaching. 

It  would  have  been   impossible  to  carry  the   Lower 
preliminaries  to  Confederation  beyond  the  Char-  ^^"^ 
lottetown    convention    of     September,     1864 —  Confed- 
beyond  the  second  of  the  five  stages  ^  —  had  not   ^e^^ds 

^  Cf.  Mackenzie,  122-127.  ^®" 

2  These  stages  were  (i)  the  agreement  effected  when  the    8^<^^ 
Tache-Macdonald    government    was    reorganized    in    June, 
1864;    (2)   the  Charlottetown  convention;    (3)   the  Quebec 
convention;    (4)  the  approval  of  the  Quebec  resolutions  by    system 
the  legislatures  of  the  several  provinces;    and  (5)  the  enact- 
ment of  the  British  North  America  act  at  Westminster. 

[237] 


separate 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

the  Fathers  of  Confederation  been  willing  that 
adequate  protection  should  be  afforded  in  the 
British  North  America  act  to  the  separate  school 
system,  and  the  principles  on  which  it  was  based 
when  it  was  established  in  1863.  , 

Safeguards      French   Canada   would   never   have   given   its 
^^otestant  support    to    Confederation    without    this     pro- 
schools  in  tection.     There    were    also    in    1 864-1 867    com- 
Canada      paratively  large  numbers  of  Roman  Catholics  — • 
French-Canadian,  Irish,  and  Highland-Scotch  — ■ 
in  Ontario,  Nova  Scotia,   and  New  Brunswick. 
Moreover,  in  Montreal  and  Quebec,  and  also  in 
the  eastern  townships   of  the   French   province, 
there  were  many  people  of  English  and  Scotch 
descent   who  were  of  the  Protestant  minorities 
in  that  province  —  people  who  could   not  send 
their  children  to  the  Catholic  schools,  and  who 
were  consequently  in  need  of  schools  similar  to 
those  of  the  Protestant  majority  in  Upper  Canada. 
Section  The  protection  demanded  by  those  Fathers  of 

^ee^'  Confederation  who  were  vigilant  guardians  of 
Roman  Catholic  interests  —  nearly  all  of  them 
from  the  French  province  —  was  embodied  in 
section  93  of  the  British  North  America  act. 
This  section,  which  forms  the  fourth  division 
in  the  classification  and  assignment  of  powers, 
determines  the  powers  of  the  provincial  legis- 
latures and  of  the  Dominion  parliament  respec- 
tively with  regard  to  education. 

Carnarvon    approached    this   section  with  cir- 
cumspection when   on    February    19,    1867,    he 

[238] 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF   POWERS 


unfolded  the  provisions  of  the  bill  to  the  house   Carnar- 
of  lords. 


Your    lordships  —  he    said  —  will    observe    some    rather 


von 

explains 
section 
to 
complicated   arrangements   in   reference  to  education.     The    house  of 

object  of  this  clause  is  to  secure  to  the  religious  minority  of  lords 
one  province  the  same  rights,  privileges,  and  protection  which 
the  religious  minority  of  another  province  may  enjoy.  The 
Roman  Catholic  minority  of  Upper  Canada,  the  Protestant 
minority  of  Lower  Canada,  and  the  Roman  Catholic  minority 
of  the  Maritime  Provinces  will  thus  stand  on  a  footing  of 
entire  equality.  But  in  the  event  of  any  wrong  at  the  hands 
of  the  local  majority,  the  minority  have  a  right  of  appeal 
to  the  governor-general  in  council,  and  may  claim  the  appli- 
cation of  any  remedial  laws  that  may  be  necessary  from  the 
central   parliament  of  the   Confederation.^ 

The  section  as  it  stands  in  the  act  declares  that  a 

"in  and  for  each  province,  the  legislature  may  J^®^**^*^" 

exclusively  make  laws  in  relation  to  education."  powers 

But  the  enactment  of  laws  relating  to  education  ?^  ^®^^ 

....  latures 

IS  governed  by  an  important  condition,  important 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  in  at  least  two  of  the  provinces  that  were 
organized  before  Confederation,  and  also  in  the 
three  provinces  —  Manitoba,  Saskatchewan,  and 
Alberta  —  which  were  created  by  parliament  at 
Ottawa  in  the  years  from  1870  to  1905. 

This  condition  —  the  kernel  of  section  93  — 
is  that  nothing  in  "any  such  law  shall  prejudicially 
affect  any  right  or  privilege  with  respect  to  de- 
nominational schools  which  any  class  of  persons 
have  by  law  in  the  province  at  the  union." 
1  H.   L.   Debates,  February  19,  1867. 

[239] 


Kernel 

of 

section 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Protection 
for 

Protestant 
schools  in 
Quebec 


Grievances 

of 

minorities 


Appeal  to 
governor- 
general 
in  council 


In  the  province  of  Quebec  the  legislature  can- 
not enact  a  law  prejudicial  to  separate  schools, 
Protestant  or  Roman  Catholic,  without  contra- 
vening section  93.  It  cannot  legislate  to  the  dis- 
advantage of  these  schools,  because  by  section 
93  "all  the  powers,  privileges,  and  duties  at  the 
union,  by  law  conferred  and  imposed  in  Upper 
Canada  on  the  separate  schools  and  school 
trustees  of  the  queen's  Roman  Catholic  sub- 
jects,'* were  "extended  to  the  dissentient  schools 
of  the  queen's  Protestant  and  Roman  Catholic 
subjects  in  Quebec." 

Quite  as  important  as  these  restrictions  on  the 
legislatures  in  enacting  laws  relating  to  schools 
maintained  out  of  public  funds  are  two  other 
provisions  of  section  93  for  remedying  any  griev- 
ance of  minorities  that  might  result  from  legis- 
latures or  governments  of  the  provinces  acting 
in  contravention  of  these  terms  of  the  British 
North  America  act. 

The  first  of  these  provisions  declares  that  where 
in  any  province  a  system  of  separate  schools 
existed  by  law  at  the  union,  or  after  the  union 
was  established,  an  appeal  shall  lie  to  the  governor- 
general  in  council  —  that  is,  to  the  cabinet  at 
Ottawa  —  "from  any  act  or  decision  of  any 
provincial  authority  affecting  any  right  or  privi- 
lege of  the  Protestant  or  Roman  Catholic  minority 
of  the  queen's  subjects  in  relation  to  education." 

"In  case  any  such  provincial  law,  as  from  time 
to  time  seerns  to  the  governor-general-in-council 

[240] 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  POWERS 


requisite  for  the  due  execution  of  the  provisions 
of  this  section,  is  not  made,"  reads  the  second 
of  these  provisions,  "or  in  case  any  decision  of 
the  governor-general-in-council  or  any  appeal 
under  this  section  is  not  duly  executed  by  the 
proper  provincial  authority  in  that  behalf,  then, 
and  in  every  such  case,  and  as  far  only  as  the 
circumstances  of  each  case  require,  the  parliament 
of  Canada  may  make  remedial  laws  for  the  due 
execution  of  the  provisions  of  this  section  and  of 
any  decision  of  the  governor-general  under  this 
statute." 


Remedial 
legis- 
lation by 
parlia- 
ment 


V.  A  Contention-breeding  Provision  of  the  British 
North  America  Act 

Only  two  of  the  existing  nine  provinces  of  the 
Dominion  had  separate  school  systems  at  Con- 
federation. These  were  Ontario  and  Quebec. 
Nova  Scotia,^  New  Brunswick,  and  Prince 
Edward  Island  ^  were  free  from  the  system;    and 

^  An  attempt  was  made  in  Nova  Scotia  on  the  eve  of 
Confederation  to  assimilate  the  school  law  of  that  province 
to  the  school  laws  of  Upper  and  Lower  Canada.  The  move- 
ment was  opposed  by  Tupper,  who  intimated  to  Dr.  T.  L. 
Connolly,  Roman  Catholic  archbishop  of  Halifax,  that  he 
should  oppose  any  bill  introduced  in  the  legislature  to  the 
end  desired  by  the  archbishop,  and  should  not  shrink  from 
the  performance  of  that  duty  were  he  confident  that  it  would 
terminate  his  public  life.  —  Saunders,  "Life  and  Letters  of 
Sir  Charles  Tupper,"  I,  150-152. 

2  In  New  Brunswick  before  Confederation  there  was  a 
parish  school  system.  In  1871,  after  an  education  bill  had 
been  enacted  by  the  legislature  at  Fredericton,  the  question 

[241  ] 


School 

situation 
at 

Confed- 
eration 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


No 

sectarian 
schools  in 
British 
Coltunbia 


British  Columbia,  six  years  before  it  came  into 
Confederation,  had  established  a  school  system, 
which  the  education  act  ^  declared  "shall  be 
conducted  upon  strictly  non-sectarian  principles." 
"Books  inculcating  the  highest  morality  shall 
be  selected  for  the  use  of  such  schools,"  reads 
another  section  of  the  law,  "and  all  books  of 
religious  character,  teaching  denominational 
dogma,  shall  be  strictly  excluded  therefrom." 

In  1872,  a  year  after  it  came  into  the  union, 
British  Columbia  amended  the  education  act 
of  1865;  and  when  Robertson,  provincial  secre- 
tary in  the  McCreight  administration,  who  was 
in  charge  of  the  bill,  introduced  it  to  the  legis- 
lative assembly,  he  intimated  that  its  basal 
principles  were  (i)  that  every  child  had  a  moral 
right  to  an  education,  and  (2)  that  the  system 
should  be  free  and  unsectarian.^  By  this  act 
of  1872  clergymen  were  incapacitated  from  serving 
as  school  trustees. 

As  the  school  system  of  British  Columbia  had 
been  established  before  the  province  came  into 
section  93  Confederation,  it  was  not  possible  for  the  Domin- 
ion government  to  make  section  93  of  the  British 

was  raised  as  to  whether  the  parish  school  system  constituted 
a  separate  school  system  under  the  terms  of  the  British 
North  America  act.  A  case  was  taken  to  the  judicial  com- 
mittee of  the  privy  council  at  Whitehall.  The  decision  was 
that  the  New  Brunswick  parish  system  could  not  properly 
be  held  to  constitute  a  separate  school  system. 

1  The  Common  School  act,  1865,  28  and  29  Vict.,  c.  6. 

*  Cf.  Colonist,  Victoria,  March  14,  1872. 

[242] 


New 

provinces 

and 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  POWERS 

North  America  act  operative  in  that  province. 
But  when  Manitoba  was  created  a  province  in 
1870,  the  section  was  made  to  apply  to  laws  re- 
lating to  education  passed  by  its  legislature.  A 
Conservative  government  was  responsible  for  the 
Manitoba  act.  In  1905,  when  Saskatchewan 
and  Alberta  were  created  provinces,  a  Liberal 
government,  supported  by  fifty-five  of  the  sixty- 
five  members  of  the  house  of  commons  from 
Quebec,  was  in  power  at  Ottawa,  and  again 
section  93  was  extended  to  the  new  provinces. 

There  was  much  heated  contention  over  sepa-   Conten- 
rate  schools  in  Upper  Canada  from  1849  to  1863.    g°°°'^^ 
But   this   contention   of  the   era   of  the   United    schools 
Provinces    was    comparatively    small,    and    cer-  ^^ 
tainly   limited   in    area,    as    compared    with    the   eration 
intense  and   extended   contention   and   bitterness 
which  in  the  first  half-century  of  Confederation 
were    engendered   by   section  93    of  the   British 
North  America  act. 

French-Canadians,  in  these  fifty  years,  were  as 
vigilant  in  asserting  the  rights  of  their  church 
under  this  section,  and  in  securing  that  the  sec- 
tion was  extended  to  the  provinces  carved  out 
of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company's  territory,  as  they 
were  in  insisting  on  the  use  of  the  French  language 
in  parliament,  or  in  asserting  their  claims  to 
offices  in  the  civil  service  and  to  government 
patronage  generally,  or  in  opposing  the  enact- 
ment of  the  conscription  law  of  1917. 

Section  93,  in  the  years  from   1867  to  191 7, 

[243] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Pouticai     was  at  the  root  of  more  political  crises  in  Winni- 
arisiL      P^S'  Toronto,  and  Quebec,  and  also  at  Ottawa, 
out  of        than  any  other  issue  in  provincial  or  Dominion 
section  93  politics.     It   was    the   occasion    of  more    public 
noise  in  Manitoba,  Ontario,  and  Quebec  than  any 
other  controversial  question.     More  political  rep- 
utations had  their  gilt  edges  worn  off  in  these 
heated     and     long-drawn-out     politico-sectarian, 
constitutional   controversies   than   in    any   other 
controversy  or  agitation  in  Canada  from  Con- 
federation to  the  great  war. 
Both  Both  political  parties  were  vexed  and  torn  by 

pouticai  these  section  93  agitations.  Tupper,  a  Conserv- 
invoived  ative  premier,  partly  owed  his  political  downfall 
in  1896  to  trouble  in  Manitoba  over  section  93, 
and  to  developments  in  Ottawa  growing  out  of 
this  trouble.  Laurier,  premier  of  Liberal  govern- 
ments from  1896  to  191 1,  lost  prestige  with  the 
Liberals  in  the  constituencies  through  his  part 
in  embodying  the  section  in  the  constitutions  of 
Saskatchewan  and  Alberta.  He  again  lost  pres- 
tige in  1916,  when  as  leader  of  the  opposition  in 
the  house  of  commons  he  identified  himself  with 
claims  of  the  Roman  Catholic  church  under  this 
section  —  claims  originating  in  connection  with 
separate  schools  in  Ottawa,  which  at  that  time 
were  agitating  Ontario  and  Quebec,  and  making 
business  for  the  judicial  committee  of  the  privy 
council  in  London.^ 

^  Cf.  "  Priests  Block  Recruiting  in  Quebec  Province,"  New 
York   Times  Magazine,  June  25,    19 16;    Senator  Landry's 

C  244  ] 


THE   DISTRIBUTION  OF  POWERS 

The  church  whose   interests  were  so  carefully   Roman 
safeguarded  at  the  Quebec  convention  of   1864   ^**^°"*^ 
has  obtained  some  advantages  in  other  provinces   in 
than  Quebec  by  section  93.     The  area  in  which   ^^^^ 
schools  controlled  by  its  clergy  and  its  lay  adher- 
ents are  established  was  extended  between  1867 
and  191 7  in   Ontario,  and  separate  schools  were 
established  in  the  prairie  provinces. 

The  recrudescence  of  the  separate-schools 
question  also  afforded  the  church  opportunities 
of  giving  a  political  lead  to  its  adherents,  and  of 
keeping  in  touch  with  political  leaders.  The 
schools  question  also  has,  since  Confederation, 
as  in  the  years  from  1849  to  1863  in  Upper  and 
Lower  Canada,  strengthened  the  political  soli- 
darity of  French-Canadians  and  kept  them  in 
association  and  political  sympathy  with  Roman 
Catholics  in  other  provinces  besides  Quebec. 

Lawyers   have   undoubtedly   profited   from   all   Profit- 
these     agitations.     Cases     under    the     separate-   *^^® 
schools   laws   found  their   way  into   the   courts,    gentie- 
Some  of  them  were  carried  to  the  judicial  com- 
mittee of  the  privy  council  —  the  court  of  last 
resort  for  litigants  from   India  and   the   British 
dominions  that  holds  its  sessions   at  Whitehall. 
In  the  first  half  century  of  Confederation,  section 
93  enriched  more  barristers  in  Montreal,  Quebec, 
Ottawa,    Toronto,     and    Winnipeg,     and    more 

letter  of  May  22,  1916,  the  Gazette,  Montreal,  June  3,  1916; 
full  text  of  judgments  in  school  cases,  the  Gazette,  Montreal, 
November  3,  1916. 

[245] 


men  of 
long  robe 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

attorneys  and  gentlemen  of  the  long  robe  and 
of  the   Inns   of  Court   in   the   neighborhood   of 
Temple  Bar,  than  any  other  section  of  the  British 
North  America  act. 
A  key  Carnarvon,  who  as  colonial  secretary  managed 

wn^tkTns  ^^^    preliminary   negotiations   with   the   Fathers 
in  of  Confederation  who  were  in  London  in   1867, 

^mT''  ^"^  w^°  piloted  the  British  North  America  act 
through  the  house  of  lords  with  a  good  will 
towards  Canada  and  its  aspirations  and  a  states- 
manlike parliamentary  skill  that  are  kindly 
remembered  in  the  Dominion,  described  section 
93  as  complicated. 

It  is  complicated.  It  is  one  of  the  most  com- 
plicated and  contention-breeding  sections  ever 
embodied  in  the  constitution  of  any  English- 
speaking  country.  But  it  must  be  understood, 
and  so  must  the  education  systems  of  the  older 
provinces  as  they  existed  on  the  eve  of  Confeder- 
ation. Otherwise  it  is  impossible  to  understand 
many  political  episodes  and  developments  in 
Canada  since  1867,  or  to  realize  the  cause  of  the 
divisions  between  Quebec  and  Ontario  in  Domin- 
ion politics,  or  to  understand  some  of  the  con- 
ditions that  have  long  characterized  politics 
at  Ottawa. 


1:246] 


Confed- 
eration 


CHAPTER  X 

THE     GOVERNOR-GENERAL    AND 
CABINET 

BEFORE  Confederation  there  was  a  governor-  Colonial 
general   established   at    the    capital    of  the   ^°J^^_" 
United    Provinces,    and    a    governor   in   each   of  fore 
the  other   provinces  of  British   Columbia,  Nova 
Scotia,    New     Brunswick,    and     Prince    Edward 
hland.     They  were  all  appointed  by  the  crown, 
pn  the  advice  and  recommendation  of  the  colonial 
office  in  London.     They  were  sent  out  from  Great 
Britain,  and  were  appointed  under  the  patronage 
system  as  it  then  existed  at  Westminster. 

I.  The  Governor-general  under  Confederation 

By  the  British  North  America  act  the  office  of  Lieu- 
governor-general  was  continued;    and  governors   *®^^^*" 

o  o  ^  '  o  govem- 

of  the  other  provinces  ceased  to  be  appointed  by   ors  under 
the  colonial  office.     For  governors  sent  out  from   g^j^   . 
Great  Britain  there  were  substituted  lieutenant-   act 
governors  —  invariably     Canadians  —  appointed 
by  the  governor-general  in  council  —  in  practice 
by  the  cabinet  at  Ottawa. 

No   change  was   made   by  the   British   North    gov- 
America  act  in  the  general  relations  of  the  gov-   ®™°^" 

»  .  f*  general 

ernor-general   to    the   cabinet.      These  remained   and  the 
the    same   as    from   1849  —  the    year  in  which    <»^^«* 

[247] 


of  the 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Elgin,  continuing  an  undertaking  successfully 
begun  by  Sydenham  in  1841,  aided  in  com- 
pletely establishing  responsible  government  in 
the  United  Provinces. 

By  responsible  government,  it  will  be  recalled, 
is  meant  the  system  under  which  the  governor- 
general  must  form  his  executive  council  or  cab- 
inet only  from  members  of  parliament  who  can 
command  the  support  of  a  majority  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  house  of  commons  —  the  house  which 
in  practice  has  sole  control  of  the  powers  of 
taxation  and  appropriation. 
Custom  There  was  no  law,  either  of  the  imperial  parlia- 

ment or  of  the  legislature  of  the  United  Provinces, 
establishing  the  system  of  responsible  govern- 
ment. There  is  no  law  of  the  imperial  parHament 
which  established  the  cabinet  at  Ottawa  exactly 
as  it  is  constituted  today  —  as  it  has  been  con- 
stituted since  1867.^  Nor  is  there  any  law  which 
declares  that  the  cabinet  at  Whitehall  must  be 

^  All  that  the  section  of  the  British  North  America  act 
establishing  the  executive  council  or  cabinet  says  is,  "There 
shall  be  a  council  to  aid  and  advise  the  government  of  Canada, 
to  be  styled  the  queen's  privy  council  for  Canada;  and  the 
persons  who  are  to  be  members  of  that  council  shall  be  from 
time  to  time  chosen  and  summoned  by  the  governor-general 
and  sworn  in  as  privy  councilors,  and  the  members  thereof 
may  be  from  time  to  time  removed  by  the  governor-general." 
—  Section  XI.  "The  provisions  of  the  British  North- 
America  act  imply,  though  they  do  not  express,  the  unwritten 
conventions  of  British  parliamentary  practice."  —  H.  E. 
Egerton,  "  Federations  and  unions  within  the  British  Empire," 
123-24. 

[248] 


GOVERNOR-GENERAL  AND  CABINET 

chosen  by  the  king  from  members  of  parliament 
who  command  a  majority  in  the  house  of  commons 
at  Westminster.  The  cabinet  system  at  White- 
hall is  based  on  usage  —  on  a  custom  of  the  con- 
stitution which  has  been  continuously  followed 
for  at  least  two  centuries. 

At   the   capital   of  the  United    Provinces   the  un- 
system  of  responsible  government  was  also  based   '^**®° 
only  on  usage,  or  on  the  custom  of  the  constitution,   tution 
From  1840  to  1867  the  United  Provinces  had  a   °'^^ 

.        .  r        '  r  United 

written  constitution  —  the  act  of  union  of  1840,  Provinces 
with  the  liberalizing  amendments  made  by  the 
imperial  parliament  in  1847  and  1854.     But  they 
had  also,  as  has  already  been  told,  an  unwritten 
constitution. 

The  greatly  restricted  power  of  the  legislative 
council  in  respect  to  money  bills  —  the  power  to 
reject  but  not  to  amend  a  money  bill  —  was  deter- 
mined by  the  unwritten  constitution.  So  also 
was  the  right  of  the  legislature  to  enact  a  tariff 
without  regard  to  the  industrial  and  commercial 
interests  of  the  United  Kingdom,  a  right  first 
asserted  and  exercised  in  1858.  It  was  also  under 
the  unwritten  constitution  that  responsible  govern- 
ment was  established  in  1841-1845,  and  main- 
tained inviolate  from  1849  to  1867. 

Quite  important   parts  of  the  constitution  of  un- 
the  Dominion   are  still  unwritten.     The  British   ^^"«** 

constl- 

North  America  act  ordains  that  "bills  for  appro-   tution 
priating  any  part  of  the  public  revenue  or  for   ^^f. 
imposing   any   tax  or   impost   shall   originate   in 

[249] 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

the  house  of  commons."     The  conditions  under 
which    money    bills    shall   originate  —  conditions 
which  prevent  any  money  bill  from  originating 
except  at  the  instance  of  the  privy  council  or 
cabinet  —  are    also    determined    by   the   written 
constitution. 
Restricted      There  IS,  however,  no  section  in  the  act  which 
^JseMte  '^^^^^^^  ^^^^  ^^^  senate  shall  have  far  less  power 
over  over  money  bills  —  a  power  that  in  practice  is 

^°®y  scarcely  more  than  nominal  —  than  is  exercised 
by  the  house  of  commons.  Nor  was  there  any 
section  in  the  Quebec  act  of  1791,  or  in  the  act  of 
union  of  1840,  which  gave  to  the  three  legis- 
lative assemblies  of  1791-1867^  the  larger  powers 
which  they  exercised  over  money  bills.  In  regard 
to  money  bills  the  legislative  councils  were  in 
the  same  position  as  is  today  the  senate  at  Ottawa. 
In  all  matters  affecting  the  raising  and  appro- 
priation of  the  provincial  revenues  they  were  in 
an  inferior  or  secondary  position  in  relation  to 
the  legislative  assemblies. 

The  larger  powers  of  the  commons  of  the  Domin- 
ion over  money  bills  are  based  on  a  custom  of 
the  constitution  of  the  United  Kingdom,  which 
originated  at  Westminster  in  1661  ^  —  a  custom 
that  had  been  established  for  almost  a  century 

1  The  legislative  assembly  of  Upper  Canada,  the  legislative 
assembly  of  Lower  Canada,  and  the  legislative  assembly  of 
the  United  Provinces. 

2  Cf.  Porritt,  "Unreformed  House  of  Commons,"  I,  548- 
557. 

[250] 


GOVERNOR-GENERAL  AND  CABINET 

before   the   first   elected   legislative   assembly   in   Respon- 
anv  of  the  present  oversea  dominions  of  Great   ^^^® 

.      .  .  .  TT    IT        •  govem- 

Britain  came  mto  existence  at  Halifax  in  1758.      ment 

Responsible  government  in  the  Dominion,  ^^j" 
the  system  of  government  that  restricts  drasti-  by  usage 
cally  the  actual  power  and  authority  of  the 
governor-general  at  Ottawa,  is  also  still  based 
only  on  usage  and  custom.  Neither  by  the 
British  North  America  act,  nor  by  any  subsequent 
legislation  at  Westminster,  was  direct  statutory 
sanction  given  to  the  system  of  government  in 
Canada  that  between  1841  and  1849  was  created 
by  the  statesmen  of  the  United  Provinces,  and 
accepted  by  Sydenham,  Bagot,  and  Elgin  as 
representatives  of  the  crown. 

II.  Relations  of  the  Governor-general  to  the 
Cabinet 

There   is,   however,    a   section    in   the   British    Govem- 
North   America    act    that    to    some    degree    and   °*''     , 

•  general 

indirectly    establishes    responsible     government,    must  act 
and  much  of  what  in  Canada  between  1841  and    on  advice 
1867  had  come  to  be  associated  with  the  term  —   cabinet 
Canadian  in  origin  —  "responsible  government." 
"The  provisions  of  this  act  relating  to  the  gov- 
ernor-general," it   reads,  "shall   be   construed  as 
referring  to  the  governor-general,  acting  by  and 
with  the  advice  of  the  queen's  privy  council  for 
Canada." 

Lafontaine  and   Baldwin   and  their  colleagues 
of  the    movement    for    responsible    government, 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Basal        it  will  be  recalled,  made  two  demands  on  Met- 

S^ef^n-  ^^^^^  ^"  1 843-1 845.     They  insisted  on  his  acting 

sibie         on  two  principles.     The  first  was  that  he  should 

govern-      select  his  executive  council  —  or  cabinet  —  only 

ment  -^ 

from    the    political    party   which    commanded    a 

majority  in  the  legislative  assembly.  The  second 
was  that  he  should  act  in  all  political  matters 
only  on  the  advice  of  the  council  so  chosen. 

Elgin's  policies  and  actions  as  governor-general 
of  the  United  Provinces  from  1847  to  1854  were 
based  on  these  two  principles.  His  fame  in 
Canadian  history,  and  in  the  history  of  the  Empire, 
rests  on  his  part  in  the  establishment  of  respon- 
sible government.  Head  and  Monck,  his  suc- 
cessors, acted  on  the  precedents  that  Elgin  had 
estabhshed. 
These  These  principles  were  soon   adopted  in  other 

^d°Td*^  British  colonies.  They  were,  in  fact,  so  quickly, 
toother  and  completely  adopted  in  the  British  North 
colonies  American  provinces,  in  Australasia,  and  in  South 
Africa,  that  as  early  as  i860,  seven  years  before 
Confederation,  responsible  government  had  be- 
come so  general  in  British  colonies  with  parlia- 
mentary institutions,  and  the  powers  of  governors 
had  thereby  been  so  greatly  curtailed,  that  Sir 
William  Denison,  governor  of  New  South  Wales 
from  1854  to  1 861,  expressed  regret  that  under 
the  new  order  there  remained  little  real  work 
for  governors  to  do. 

While  serving  as  governor  at  Sydney,  Denison, 
who  was  of  the  old  school  of  colonial  adminis- 

C  252  ] 


GOVERNOR-GENERAL  AND  CABINET 


trators,  was  appointed  governor  of  Madras,  a 
province  of  India,  in  which  there  was  no  represen- 
tative government,  and  consequently  no  system 
of  responsible  government.  "I  look  forward 
with  great  pleasure,"  he  wrote  from  Sydney, 
on  November  17,  i860,  "to  the  idea  of  having 
something  to  do.  In  these  responsible  govern- 
ments one  sees  much  going  on  which  is  most 
objectionable.  Yet  one  is  powerless  either  to  do 
good  or  to  prevent  evil."  ^ 

New  duties  and  added  responsibilities  were 
imposed  by  the  British  North  America  act  on 
the  governor-in-council.  These  new  duties  nec- 
essarily accrued  to  the  cabinet  in  a  federation 
which  in  1867  included  four  provinces  and  by  1905 
had  come  to  include  nine.  Only  two  or  three 
examples  need  be  cited  to  illustrate  the  new  duties 
that  had  to  be  assumed  by  the  cabinet  of  the 
Dominion,  duties  of  a  class  and  importance  such 
as  had  never  been  discharged  by  the  executive 
council  of  the  United  Provinces  nor  by  the 
cabinet  of  any  British  North  American  province 
in  the  era  of  1 791-1867. 

The  appointment  of  lieutenant-governors  of 
the  provinces,  by  the  British  North  America  act, 
is  vested  in  the  governor-general-in-council.  On 
the  governor-general-in-council  is  also  imposed  the 
responsibility  of  disallowing  acts  passed  by  the 
provincial  legislatures;  and  it  is  to  the  governor- 
general-in-council  that  aggrieved  minorities  under 
^  Denison,  "Varieties  of  Viceregal  Life,"  I,  497. 

C253] 


Position 
of 

colonial 
governor 
under 
respon- 
sible 
govern- 
ment 


Govem- 

or-in- 

council 


Increased 

powers 

and 

new 

functions 

of  the 

Dominion 

cabinet 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Orders- 
in-council 


Meaning 

of  the 

tejrm 

"govem- 

or- 

general- 

in- 

council" 


A  consti- 
tutional 
fiction 


section  93  —  the  separate-schools  section  —  make 
their  appeals  for  remedial  measures. 

Orders-in-council  made  under  statutory  author- 
ity —  orders  promulgated  in  the  Canada  Gazette, 
the  official  journal  of  the  Dominion  —  which  have 
the  force  of  law,  also  issue  from  the  governor- 
general-in-council.  These  orders,  under  the  fed- 
eral system,  are  necessarily  more  numerous,  much 
more  important,  and  in  every  way  a  larger  part 
of  the  governmental  machinery  than  orders-in- 
council  were  in  the  period  in  which  every  province 
was  separately  organized,  and  conducted,  through 
its  governor,  all  its  own  business  and  its  nego- 
tiations with  the  sister  provinces  and  with  the 
imperial  government. 

At  most,  however,  these  new  duties  and  respon- 
sibilities thrown  upon  the  governor-general-in- 
council  add  only  to  the  dignity  and  the  nominal 
importance  of  the  governor-general.  The  gov- 
ernor-general-in-council  in  reality  is  not  much 
more  than  the  title  of  the  cabinet,  the  king's 
privy  council  in  Canada. 

III.  The  Governor-general  and  Party 
Politics 

The  presence  of  the  governor-general-in-council 
is  today  not  much  more  than  a  constitutional 
fiction.  In  the  chamber  of  the  king's  privy 
council,  in  the  eastern  block  at  Ottawa,  there  is 
a  high-backed,  decorated  chair.  It  is  at  the  head 
of  the   council    board.     It   is    reserved    for   the 

[254] 


GOVERNOR-GENERAL  AND  CABINET 

king's  representative.  There  is  a  tradition  at 
Ottawa  that  in  the  days  of  the  United  Provinces 
this  chair  was  sometimes  occupied  by  the  governor- 
general.  But  rare  indeed  are  the  occasions  since 
Confederation  when  the  regal  chair  has  been 
occupied  by  the  governor-general  during  a  session 
of  the  cabinet. 

Why   the   governor-general   of  the   Dominion   Non- 
has  seldom  or  never  sat  at  the  head  of  the  cabinet   ^^^^^' 

ance  of 

table  has  been  explained  by  a  former  governor-   governor- 
general,  the  late  Duke  of  Argyll,  who  was  much    ^^^^'^^ 
appreciated   and   popular  in  Canada  during  his   meetings 
term  of  office  from  1878  to  1883.  ^ 

Argyll,  who  until  1900  was  Marquis  of  Lome, 
assumed  office  at  Ottawa  in  November,  1878. 
In  a  private  letter  written  in  November  or  Decem- 
ber of  that  year,  the  new  governor-general  re- 
marked on  some  of  the  old  world  usages  he  had 
discovered  in  the  new  world  capital. 

It    is  curious  —  he  wrote  —  how  old   monarchical  ways,    Stirvival 
no  longer  known  in  Great  Britain,  still  survive  in  some  forms    of  old 
in  the  free  and  self-governing  colonies.     For  instance,  now    ^°^^^^' 
that  I  have  taken  up  my  work,  and  attend  at  the  government 
buildings  to  all  the  papers  that  are  brought  before  me,  I  am 
sometimes  told  that  my  predecessors  used  to  attend  also  the 
meetings  of  the  cabinet,  quite  as  we  may  suppose  the  Stuart 
monarchs  may  have  presided  at  their  council  of  state,  when 
their  ministers  deliberated.     Now  you  know  well,  or  ought 
to  know,  that  the  queen,  and  the  sovereigns  before  her  since 
the  revolution,  have  done  this  but  seldom.     When  the  queen 
nominally  presides  at  a  council  it  is  only  a  form,  for  all  de- 
cisions have  been  previously  taken.     She  has  seen  the  papers 
that  led  to  the  decision,  and  she  may  herself,  or  through  her 


usages 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Regal 

chair  in 
the  cabinet 
chamber 
at 
Ottawa 


secretary,  have  taken  part  in  written  or  oral  discussion,  but 
with  each  minister,  or  the  prime  minister  singly,  and  not  in 
cabinet  conclave. 

But  the  governor-general  of  Canada  has  often  himself 
sat  and  spoken  in  the  cabinet  conclave.  To  prove  this  to 
me  I  was  shown  the  council  room,  in  which  a  high-backed, 
decorated  chair  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  long  table, 
and  ranged  along  the  table  at  each  side,  were  the  chairs  for 
the  ministers.  I  said,  as  soon  as  I  saw  this  cabinet  throne, 
that  I  would  not  be  representing  the  queen  in  occupying  it 
when  ministers  were  engaged  in  consulting  with  each  other 
about  any  bill  they  proposed  to  bring  forward  in  the  house, 
and  that  I  would  never  use  it. 


Govern- 
ors- 
general 


"Nor  did  I,"  added  Argyll,  when  in  1907 
these  notes  of  1878  were  published  in  his  reminis- 
cences, "do  so  —  sit  in  the  regal  chair  —  even  for 
the  formality  of  assenting  to  bills  passed,  which 
was  done  by  signing  council  orders."  ^ 

The  attitude  and  policy  of  Argyll  towards  the 
cabinets  of  1 878-1 882  was  also  the  attitude  of 
from  1878  the  Marquis  of  Lansdowne,  Lord  Stanley  of 
to  the  Preston,  the  Earl  of  Aberdeen,  the  Earl  of  Minto, 
of  the  war  Earl  Grey,  and  the  Duke  of  Connaught,  who  were 
successively  governors-general  from  1883  to  the 
outbreak  of  war  in  1914.  No  other  attitude, 
in  fact,  was  possible;  for  no  other  attitude  would 
have  been  tolerated  by  the  statesmen  or  by  the 
people  of  the  Dominion. 

The  governor-general's  attitude  on  all  political 
questions  must  be  absolutely  non-partisan.  What- 
ever his  party  affiliations  at  Westminster  may 


Governor- 
general 
non- 
partisan 


1  Argyll,  "Passages  from  the  Past,"  II,  412. 


[256] 


GOVERNOR-GENERAL  AND  CABINET 

have  been,  immediately  he  assumes  office  at 
Ottawa,  as  the  representative  of  the  king,  his 
attitude  towards  poHtical  parties  and  poHtical 
agitations  of  all  kinds,  in  the  constituencies  as 
well  as  in  parliament,  must  be  as  nearly  as  he 
can  approach  it  the  attitude  of  the  king  toward 
political  parties  at  Westminster. 

As   the   king's    representative   he   must    stand   His 
aloof  in  all  party  contentions.     He  must  accept   ^^^^ 
the  services  of  the  group  of  party  leaders  who   the  ins 
can  command  a  majority  in  the  house  of  com-   *^^*^® 
mons.     But  he  must   be  ready  at  any  time  to 
accept  the  services  of  the  leaders  of  the  opposition, 
if  a  ministerial  crisis,  or  the  issue  of  a  general 
election,  brings  about  the  downfall  of  the  party 
in  power,  and  control  of  the  house  of  commons  is 
transferred  to  the  party  previously  in  opposition. 

IV.     Influence  of  the  Governor-general  on  Political 
Life 

A  political  history  of  Canada  from   1867  to   Cor- 
1917  that  was  loyal   to  the  truth  would  have  to   ™^*^°° 
tell   of  much   corruption   and   of  many  scandals   pouticai 
at  Ottawa.     Some  of  the  scandals  grew  out  of  s<^<^» 
methods  resorted  to  by  politicians  in   power  to 
raise  money  for  election  campaigns  from  Canada's 
governing  class  —  from  the  men  who  were  dicker- 
ing for  railway  charters  and  the  accompanying 
land   grants    and    subsidies   from   the   Dominion 
treasury;  ^   from  beneficiaries  of  the  tariff  and  of 
»  Cf.  Boyd,  328-332. 

C  2S7  1 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

the  iron  and  steel  bounties  of  1883-1911;^ 
from  men  who  desired  large  grants  of  public 
lands  with  valuable  timber  rights;  and  from  men 
who  were  seeking  by  orders  of  the  governor- 
general-in-council  valuable  mineral  or  water 
rights.^ 
Contracts  Other  political  scandals  of  the  first  fifty  years 
^^  of  Confederation  developed  out  of  corrupt  rela- 

eering  tions  of  politicians  in  power  with  contractors  for 
public  buildings,  for  dredging,  and  other  public 
works; ^  out  of  the  corruption'*  and  frauds  at  elec- 
tions to  the  house  of  commons;  out  of  the  lavish 
expenditures    on    the    immigration    propaganda; 

1  Of.  Cartwright  on  the  Red  Parior  at  Ottawa,  H.  C.  De- 
bates, April  II,  1890. 

2  "Generally  I  would  charge  against  your  party,  as  repre- 
sented by  the  governments  in  which  you  sat,"  wrote  Sir 
John  Willison,  editor  of  the  Newsy  Toronto,  to  Sir  Charles 
Tupper,  in  1903,  "that  it  carried  on  a  strong  constructive 
Canadian  policy  by  bad  political  methods,  and  gross  corrup- 
tion in  the  constituencies;  and  that  the  net  result  was  to 
build  up  Canada,  and  greatly  lower  the  public  morals."  — 
Saunders,  "Life  and  Letters  of  Sir  Charles  Tupper,"  II,  255. 

'  Cf.  Speech  by  Sir  George  E.  Foster,  Minister  of  Trade 
and  Commerce,  House  of  Commons,  Ottawa,  February  17, 
1916;  and  "Campaign  Funds,  Dominion  and  Provincial," 
Tribune,  Winnipeg,  November  30,  1915. 

*  "In  Canada  the  necessity  of  two  contending  parties 
to  obtain  an  electoral  majority  in  every  district  is  a  cor- 
rupting influence  which  poisons  the  life  of  the  people  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific." — ^Viscount  Grey  of  Fallodon, 
letter  on  proportional  representation.  The  Times,  London, 
April  2,  1917. 

[258] 


GOVERNOR-GENERAL  AND  CABINET 

and  out  of  the  purchase  of  small  railway  lines, 
to  be  used  as  feeders  or  branches  of  the  Inter- 
colonial Railway,  the  line  owned  and  operated 
by  the  Dominion  government,  that  connects  St. 
John  and  Halifax  with  Montreal.^ 

Political  conditions  at  Ottawa  and  in  the  con-   An  ex- 
stituencies,   that   since    1867   have   continued   or   ^^^^^'^^o'"- 

,  .  general  s 

developed  these  flaws  in  the  working  of  the  repre-   descdp- 
sentative  and  administrative  institutions  of  Can-   *^°"°^ 

political 

ada,  are  soon  obvious  to  a  new  governor-general.  con- 
He  cannot  read  Canadian  history,  the  debates  ^*^°^ 
in  parliament,  the  reports  of  royal  commissions 
and  investigating  committees,  or  even  the  daily 
newspapers,  without  becoming  aware  of  them. 
But  the  position  of  the  king's  representative 
at  Ottawa  in  regard  to  political  parties  and 
political  controversy  is,  and  since  1849  has 
always  been,  such  as  to  make  corrective  action  on 
his  part  impossible. 

The   Dominion   is   under   responsible   govern-  The 
ment.     This  is  a  condition   that  obviously   ad-   ^^^^^ 
mits  of  no  change.     However  great  the  scandal,   whitehau 
there  can   be  no  interference   by  the  governor-   *°^"*^ 
general,   so   long   as   the   political   party   in   the   scandals 
majority  stands  ready  to  support  the  government   ^^. 
in  the  house  of  commons  at  Ottawa. 

"The    Canadian    ministers,"    said    Gladstone, 

when,   during   his   administration   of  1 868-1 874, 

his  attention  was  called  in  the  house  of  commons 

to   the   scandal   over   the   first   charter   for   the 

^  Cf.  Grain  Growers'  Guide,  Winnipeg,  May  31,  191 5. 

[259] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Canadian  Pacific  Railway,  granted  by  the  Mac- 
donald  government  in  1872,  "are  responsible 
to  their  parliament,  and  are  not  in  any  way 
responsible  to  us  for  their  conduct.  I  do  not 
think  this  is  a  matter  in  which  it  is  competent  or 
desirable  for  us  to  interfere."  ^ 
An  attitude  Investigations  into  the  granting  of  the  first 
in  which    charter  for  the  first  trans-continental  line  across 

no  change 

is  possible  the  Dominion  revealed  the  worst  scandal  in  the 
history  of  Great  Britain's  oversea  dominions. 
Macdonald,  by  the  action  of  the  house  of  com- 
mons at  Ottawa,  was  forced  to  resign,  and  was 
out  of  power  from  1873  to  1878.  The  scandal 
was  not  forgotten  in  Great  Britain,  when,  after 
his  death  in  1891,  tributes  to  Macdonald  as  an 
empire  builder  were  paid  in  parliament  at  West- 
minster. But  neither  in  Great  Britain  nor  in 
Canada  has  the  attitude  which  Gladstone  as- 
sumed in  1873  ever  been  questioned. 
No  The  Dominion  of  Canada,  like  all  the  domin- 

uninvited    [qyis,  is  Under  responsible  government  in  the  fullest 
ference      meaning  of  the  term.    Canadians  pride  themselves 
^^         on  this  fact.      They  point  with  pride  also  to  the 
Britain       leading  and  conspicuous  part  which  the  old  British 
North  American    provinces    had    from   1791   to 
1849  in  securing  responsible  government  and  the 
status  of  nation  for  the  other  oversea  dominions 
of  the  empire.     In  the  internal  affairs  of  Canada 
there  can   never  be   any  uninvited   interference 
by  Great  Britain,  either  through  parliament  at 
1  H.  C.  Debates,  August  i,  1873. 
[260] 


GOVERNOR-GENERAL  AND  CABINET 

Westminster,   or  through   the  colonial   office  or 
the  governor-general.^ 

Recognition  of  this  fact  is  one  of  the  funda-   PoUticai 
mental  principles  of  the  relations  between  Great   ^*^*^' 
Britain  and   the   oversea   dominions.     Failure  to   a  matter 
recognize  it,  and  to  adapt  all  policies  in  accord-   '°*'  ^® 
ance  with  it,  would  endanger  the  tie  that  holds   Canada 
the  Empire  together.     The  government  of  Canada 
can  be  made  responsible  in  the  widest  and  best 
sense  of  the  term  —  a  government  under  which 
it  will  be  impossible  for  any  governing  class  to 
achieve  its  unsocial  ends  —  only  by  the  action 
of  the  men  and  women  of  Canada. 

Only  by  public  opinion,  expressed  at  the  polls,   a 
can  the  government  be  made  actually  responsible   *^^™p*- 
to   all   the   people   of  the   Dominion.     Only   by   govem- 
public  opinion,  so  expressed,  will  an  end  be  made   Jjf 
to  a  party  system  that  permits  a  small  governing 
class,  systematically  using  both  political  parties, 
to  name  the  men  who  shall  hold  this  or  that  port- 
folio in  the  Dominion     cabinet,^  or  to    dictate 

^  "The  king  is  a  constitutional  monarch,  reigning  by 
virtue  of  an  act  of  parliament,  who  leaves  ruling  to  those  whose 
constitutional  duty  it  is  —  the  ministry  responsible  to  the 
people  of  the  British  Isles.  That  ministry  has  long  ceased 
to  interfere  with  Canadian  affairs.  It  would  not  think  of 
directing  or  even  advising  the  people  of  Canada  or  its  ministry 
what  to  do,  or  to  leave  undone."  —  Riddell,  "Constitution 
of  Canada,"  90-91. 

*  In  the  twenty  years  from  1896  to  1917  there  were  only 
two  changes  of  government  at  Ottawa.  At  each  of  these 
changes  —  the  first  in  1896,  and  the  second  in  191 1 — the 

C261] 


class 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

policies  and  legislation  in  its  own  interest,  and 
antagonistic  to  the  interests  of  the  people  as  a 
whole.^ 
Public  Public  opinion  in  Canada  is  slow  in  expressing 

*^°"      itself  at  the   polls   against   a  government  under 
expressing  which  Corruption  has  manifested  itself,  or  against 
itself         ^  government  which  has  repudiated  pledges  by- 
virtue  of  which    it  was  elected.^    Only  once    in 
the  first  half  century  of  Confederation,  in  1874, 
did   the   electors   of  the    Dominion   dethrone   a 
government  because  it  had  proved  corrupt  and 
untrustworthy.^ 
Party  An  administration  at  Ottawa  is  little  perturbed 

fealty  j^y  ^Y\e  exposure  of  a  scandal  unless  it  is  so  grave 
as  to  bring  about  its  downfall.  The  party 
supporters  of  the  government  in  the  house  of 
commons  —  the  only  house  that  need  be  consid- 
ered in  these  matters  —  under  any  and  all  con- 
ditions will  vote  with  the  government.'*  The 
party  press  from  Halifax  to  Victoria  will  white- 
wash the  government,  and  insist,  no  matter  how 

governing  class,  represented  on  both  occasions  by  the  bankers 
of  Montreal  and  Toronto,  dictated  to  the  incoming  premier 
the  man  on  whom  he  must  bestow  the  portfolio  of  minister 
of  finance. 

1  Cf,  Goldwin  Smith,  "On  the  Position  and  Functions 
of  the  Governor-General,"  Sun,  Toronto,  March  18,  1908, 
and  A.  MacPhail,  "Essays  in  Politics,"  92. 

2  Cf.    Porritt,   "Sixty  Years   of  Protection   in   Canada," 

363-387- 

»  Cf.  Cartwright,  "Reminiscences,"  110-119. 
*  Cf.  Cartwright,  ibid.,  112. 

[262] 


GOVERNOR-GENERAL  AND  CABINET 

gross  the  scandal  that  has  been  exposed,  that 
conditions  are  no  worse  than  they  were  when  the 
opposition  was  in  power. 

Much  the  same  attitude  will  be  taken  by  the   Rigidity 
active  supporters  of  the  government  in  the  con-  ^^^ 
stituencies,  and  in  particular  by  the  local  political 
mechanics;    for  nowhere  in  the  English-speaking 
world  in  normal  times  are  party  lines  more  rigidly 
drawn  or  more  rigidly  adhered  to  than  in  Canada. 

In  the  constituencies  there  is  no  large  body  of 
electors  who  are  unattached  to  either  political 
party.  There  is  no  large  independent  vote,  as 
there  is  in  the  United  Kingdom  and  the  United 
States;  ^  and  unfortunately  for  the  beneficent 
working  of  the  party  system  and  of  representa- 
tive institutions,  conditions  in  Dominion  politics 
from  1896  to  the  beginning  of  the  war  in  19 14 
were  such  as  not  to  admit  of  the  existence  of  a 
strong,  aggressive,  and  effective  opposition  in 
the  house  of  commons  at  Ottawa. 

V.  Extra-Official  Utterances  of  the  Governor- 
general 

On  the  everyday  political  life  of  the  Dominion  Gov- 

—  on  the  policies,  standards,  and  ideals  of  states-  ^"^^'^ 

men    and    parties    at    Ottawa  —  the    governor-  and 

general   has   not   as   much    influence,    direct    or  *^*^*®™" 

.       .  .  .  poraiy 

indirect,   as   the   editor  of  any  widely  circulated   poutics 
newspaper  that  is  not  tied  to  any  political  party. 

^  Cf.  Riddell,  "Constitution  of  Canada,"  notes  IV  and 
V,  los-^. 

C263] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Only  with  his  constitutional  advisers  is  it  allow- 
able  for  him   to  talk   politics.     In   public,   con- 
temporary politics   is  a  forbidden  subject  for  a 
governor-general;     and    discretion    must    be    ex- 
ercised  when  he  ventures   to   discourse   from   a 
public   platform    on    religion,    economics,    or  so- 
ciology. 
Academic        There  is  not  much  even  of  academic  freedom 
^^^^^     for  a  governor-general.     Grey,  who  was  at  Ottawa 
governor-   from  1904  to  1911,  was  much  criticized  because 
general      j^^  spoke  in  public  on  the  widespread  success  in 
England    and   Scotland    of    cooperation    on   the 
Rochdale  principle.     Even  in  discussing  on  the 
platform     general    or     abstract     principles     and 
virtues,     a     governor-general     must     use    much 
circumspection,    and    take    due    care    that    any 
speech  he  makes  is   accurately  reported  in  the 
press.     On    contemporary    politics    in    all    their 
various  aspects  he  must  not,  in  public,  venture 
even  a  hint.     It  might  be  construed  as  prejudicial 
to  the  political  party  in  power,  or  as  giving  aid 
and  comfort  to  the  party  in  opposition  in  the 
house  of  commons. 
Functions        The   position  of  governor-general   in   Canada, 
^  or  in  any  of  the  other  four  dominions,  is,  admit- 

govemor-  •'  t^       •  .        ,  .   . 

general  tedly,  much  as  Denison  described  the  position 
tZs^  of  the  governor  of  New  South  Wales,  in  i860. 
But  the  office  is  more  than  the  most  visible  link 
that  binds  the  Dominion  to  Great  Britain  and 
the  empire.  Some  of  the  functions  that  attach 
to  the  office  are  ceremonial.  Others  are  only 
[  264  ] 


GOVERNOR-GENERAL  AND  CABINET 

formal.  Formal  as  they  are,  they  must  be  faith- 
fully discharged,  or  there  might  be  crises  when 
the  day-by-day  business  of  the  Dominion  would 
come  indefinitely  to  a  standstill. 

It  was  a  maxim  of  Wellington's,  in  the  political  Weiiing- 
years  of  his  long  career,  that  come  what  might  ^^^ 
to  political  parties  at  Westminster,  the  king's 
business  must  go  on;  and  the  important  mission 
of  the  governor-general  is  to  see  that,  no  matter 
what  may  happen  to  contending  political  parties, 
the  king's  business  in  Canada  goes  on. 

More  than  once  it  has  been  suggested  in  Canada   a 
that    the    governor-general    should    be    elected.    ^^^^^ 
There   are    Canadians  —  many    of   them  —  who   govemor- 
could  discharge  the  executive  functions  of  the  gov-   ^^ggj,.. 
ernor-general;    and    little   harm   would    result   if  able 
some  of  the  ceremonial  functions  were  abandoned. 
But  no  popular  election  could  possibly  carry  into 
the  office  a  man  sufficiently  aloof  from  political 
parties  and  political  controversies  and  agitations 
to  exercise    the    delicate   and    important    consti- 
tutional  functions  that  come   at  times  into  the 
day's   work   of   the   governor-general   under  the 
present  system  of  representative  and  responsible 
government. 

It  is  the  complete  aloofness  of  the  governor- 
general  from  the  fortunes  of  all  political  parties 
in  Canada;  his  disinterestedness  in  all  politics 
in  the  Dominion  except  the  smooth  and  contin- 
uous running  of  government;  and  the  fact  that 
his  term  in  Ottawa  is  fixed,  and  he  is  indebted 

1 265  2 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

to  no  party,  no  interest,  and  no  man  in  Canada 
for   his    appointment,    that   gives    value    to   the 
governor-general's  position. 
Men  who       It  is  sometimes  asserted  that  if  Great  Britain 
c^^dA      ^^^  "°  king,  a  king  must  be  created,  if  the  system 
and  the      of  government  by  parhament  and  cabinet,  as  it 
empu-e       j^^g  been  developed  since  1688,  were  to  continue. 
The   same   might   be   asserted   of  the  governor- 
generalship  of  Canada.     It  is  inconceivable  that 
representative  and  responsible  government  could 
continue,   as  it  has   been   developed   since   1841, 
without  a  governor-general  sent  out  from  England; 
and  so  long  as  the  existing  form  of  government 
continues,    the    men    in    political    life    in    Great 
Britain   who,    for   terms   of  four   or   five   years, 
exchange   Westminster   for  Ottawa   to   serve   as 
governor-general,   render  good   service  not   only 
to    Canada,   but  to  the  empire  and   to   British 
political  civilization. 


[266] 


CHAPTER  XI 


parliament:   the    senate 

FROM  1856  to  1866  the  council  of  the  legis-  Principle 
lature  of  the  United  Provinces  was  partly   °* 

elected 

nominated    and    partly    elected;^    and  the  two   upper 


provinces  —  Ontario  and  Quebec  —  were  divided  J^**™^®' 
into  senatorial  electoral  districts.  At  Confedera- 
tion the  elective  principle  was  discarded;  and  by 
the  British  North  America  act  it  was  provided  that 
there  should  be  a  senate  and  a  house  of  commons, 
and  that  members  of  the  senate  should  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  crown,  acting  through  the  governor- 
general. 

In    practice    this    obviously    meant    that    the   Senators 
senators  were  to  be  appointed  by  the  cabinet  at   ^pp°^*®<* 
Ottawa;   for  since  the  end  of  the  Metcalfe  regime   cabinet 
of  1 843-1 845,  it  had  not  been  in  the  power  of  a 
governor-general  to  appoint  even   a  postmaster 
or  a  collector  of  customs,  except  on  the  advice 
of  the  executive  council  or  the  cabinet. 

The    statutory   qualifications    for   senator   are    Quaiiii- 
(i)  that  he  shall  be  of  the  full  age  of  thirty  years;   ^f"^"^ 
(2)    that   he   shall    be   either   a   natural-born   or    senator 
naturalized  subject  of  the  king;    (3)  that  he  shall 
hold  freehold   property  within  the  province  for 

^  Cf.  Statutes  of  the  Province  of  Canada,  19  and  20  Vic- 
toria, c.  cxl. 

[267] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

which  he  is  appointed,  of  the  value  of  $4000 
over  and  above  all  incumbrances;  (4)  that  his 
real  and  personal  property  shall  be  worth  $4000 
over  and  above  his  debts  and  Habilities;  (5) 
that  he  shall  be  resident  in  the  province  for 
which  he  is  appointed;  and  (6)  in  the  case  of 
Quebec,  that  he  shall  have  his  real  property 
qualification  in  the  senatorial  division  for  which 
he  is  appointed  or  shall  be  resident  in  that  division. 

I.  Abandonment  of  the  Elective  Principle 

Objection       In  February,  1865,  when  the  resolutions  of  the 
^     J.      Quebec    conference    were    before    the    legislative 

discarding    ^-  .... 

elective      assembly  of  the  United  Provinces,  objection  was 

^^*^^®     made   both  to  the  abandonment  of  the  elective 

principle  for  the  senate  and  to  the  continuing  of 

senatorial   divisions   for  Quebec,   while   no   such 

provision  was   made  for  senatorial   divisions  in 

the  other  provinces. 

Grounds        George   Brown,   of  Ontario,   who  was  of  the 

on  which   administration  that  carried  the  Quebec  resolutions 

discarded    through  the  legislature  of  the  United  Provinces, 

answered  both  of  these  criticisms.     One  of  the 

reasons    for    abandoning    the    elective    principle 

was  the  dread  that  an  elective  upper  house  might 

encroach  on  the  powers  of  the  lower  house.     It 

might  claim  power  over  money  bills,  which  the 

lower  house  claimed  as  its  right. 

Elected  "Could   they   not,"    asked   the   leader   of  the 

senate  and  Qntario   Liberals   of  the   era   of  Confederation, 

money 

bius  "justly  say  that  they  represent  the  people  as 

[268] 


PARLIAMENT:    THE  SENATE 

well  as  we  do,  and  that  the  control  of  the  purse 
strings  ought  therefore  to  belong  to  them  as  much 
as  to  us?  They  might  amend  our  money  bills. 
They  might  throw  out  our  bills  if  they  liked, 
and  bring  to  a  stop  the  whole  machinery  of 
government." 

Another  reason  for  abandoning  the  elective  Cost  of 
principle  as  it  had  been  tried  from  1856  was  that  ^^^ 
the  election  of  senators  from  districts  of  large 
area  made  it  difficult  to  find  men  who  were 
willing  to  be  candidates.  "The  constituencies," 
continued  Brown,  in  speaking  of  the  forty-eight 
electoral  divisions  for  the  legislative  council  of 
the  United  Provinces,  "are  so  vast  that  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  find  gentlemen  who  have  the  will  to  incur 
the  labor  of  such  a  contest,  who  are  sufficiently 
known  and  popular  enough  throughout  districts 
so  wide,  and  who  have  money  enough  to  pay 
the  enormous  bills  that  are  sent  in  after  the  combat 
is  over."  ^ 

These  were  the  reasons  advanced  in  1865  for   Radicals 
abandoning   the   elective   principle  —  a   principle   ^^l 
for  which  radicals  of  the  school  of  Papineau  and    principle 
Mackenzie  had   contended   ten   or  fifteen   years 
before    the    rebellions    of    1837,    and    for   which 
radicals  had  contended  from  the  union  of  1840 
until  1856,  when  the  principle  was  adopted  for 
both  houses  of  the  legislature. 

One    reason    for    the    abandonment    was    not 
publicly    advanced    by    any    of   the    Fathers    of 
^  Mackenzie,  "Life  of  George  Brown,"  306-307. 

C269] 


eration 
resolutions 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Greasing  Confederation.  It  was  known  that  seventy-two 
toe  ways  genators,  with  salaries,  and  holding  office  for  life, 
Confed-  would  be  appointed  at  Confederation;  and  a 
pact  that  these  appointments  should  be  made 
from  among  men  already  in  the  legislative  coun- 
cils of  the  United  Provinces  and  of  the  Maritime 
Provinces  undoubtedly  greased  the  ways  for  the 
Quebec  resolutions  in  the  legislatures  of  what  are 
now  sometimes  described  as  the  senior  provinces 
of  the  Dominion. 

II.  Senatorial  Divisions  in  Province  of  Quebec 

Senatorial  How  it  comes  about  that  today,  as  since  1867, 
^visions  senators  at  Ottawa  from  Quebec  represent  sena- 
Quebec  torial  divisions,  while  senators  from  Nova  Scotia, 
New  Brunswick,  Prince  Edward  Island,  Ontario, 
Manitoba,  Saskatchewan,  Alberta,  and  British 
Columbia  represent  their  provinces  at  large, 
can  be  learned  from  the  speech  of  the  Liberal 
leader  of  Ontario  when  the  Quebec  resolutions 
were  before  the  legislative  assembly  of  the  United 
Provinces.  Many  important  concessions  were 
made  to  the  French  province  to  insure  the 
success    of    the    movement    for    Confederation.^ 

^  "No  other  constitution  would  give  French-Canadians 
such  liberty.  If  French-Canadians  were  to  break  the  consti- 
tution, what  kind  of  a  constitution  would  they  now  get  from 
the  majority  of  the  people  of  Canada?  Would  they  get  the 
same  rights?  No.  I  believe  in  the  constitution  that  Cartier 
got  for  us.  By  this  constitution  the  majority  of  the  people 
cannot  harm  us.  The  signature  of  the  king  of  England  is 
there,  and  no  force  can  change  it  one  iota."  —  Speech  by 

[270] 


PARLIAMENT:    THE  SENATE 


The  concession  of  senatorial  districts  was  held  to 
be  necessary  to  safeguard  the  sectional  interests 
of  the  province. 

"  Our  Lower  Canada  friends  "  — said  Brown  ^ — 
"  felt  that  they  had  French-Canadian  interests 
and  British  interests  to  be  protected;  and  they 
conceived  that  the  existing  system  of  electoral 
divisions  would  give  protection  to  these  separate 
interests.  We,  in  Upper  Canada,  on  the  other 
hand,  were  quite  content  that  they  should  settle 
that  among  themselves,  and  maintain  their 
existing  divisions  if  they  chose.  But  so  far  as 
we  in  the  west  were  concerned,  we  had  no  such 
separate  interests  to  protect.  We  had  no  di- 
versities of  origin  or  language  to  reconcile;  and 
we  felt  that  the  true  interest  of  Upper  Canada 
was  that  her  very  best  men  should  be  sent  to 
the  legislative  council  wherever  they  might  hap- 
pen to  reside,  or  wherever  their  property  was 
located.'*  2 

For  the  legislative  councils  of  the  old  British 
North  American  provinces  the  only  special  claim 
that  was  ever  made  was  that  as  their  members 
were  nominated  by  the  crown,  acting  through 
the  governors,  they  afforded  a  safeguard  to  the 
British  connection.  When  all  the  provinces  were 
Lieutenant-Colonel  P.  E.  Blondin,  ex-member  of  house  of 
commons,  grandson  of  Edmund  Barnard,  associate  of  Papi- 
neau  in  rebellion  of  1837,  at  meeting  in  Montreal,  May  7, 
1917,  to  stimulate  recruiting  of  French-Canadians  for  Cana- 
dian overseas  forces.  —  Gazette,  Montreal,  May  8,  19 17. 

1  February  8,  1865.  *  Mackenzie,  309. 

[271] 


Safe- 
guarding 
the 

interests 
of  the 
French 
province 


Upper 
cham- 
bers as 
safe- 
guards 
for  the 
British 
connec- 
tion 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

in  possession  of  representative  and  responsible 
government  —  after  1851 — the  legislative  coun- 
cils ceased  to  have  this  value,  because  a  gov- 
ernor-general or  a  governor  could  appoint  to  the 
legislative  council  only  on  the  recommendation 
of  the  executive  of  the  province,  which  owed  its 
existence  from  day  to  day  to  a  majority  in  the 
popularly  elected  assembly,  and  the  maintenance 
of  the  British  connection  was  never  taken  into 
account  by  the  executive  councils  in  their  ap- 
pointments to  the  legislative  councils. 
The  Since   Confederation,   when   the   usefulness   of 

anTtoe  ^^^  senate  at  Ottawa  has  been  challenged,  it 
provinces  has  been  asserted  that  the  senate  represents  the 
provinces,  much  in  the  same  way  as  the  senate 
at  Washington  represents  the  states.^  Quebec, 
since  1867,  has  continuously  had  more  pecuHar 
interests  to  safeguard  than  any  of  the  other 
provinces.  For  French-Canadians,  religion  and 
language  are  the  most  important  of  these  interests. 
The  population  in  Quebec  of  British  origin  is 
largely  urban.  Its  special  care  is  the  industrial, 
commercial,  maritime,  and  financial  interests  of 
Montreal,  which  are  not  the  interests  of  the  rural 
population. 

From  1867  to  1913,  113  bills  originating  in  the 
house  of  commons  were  rejected  by  the  senate. 
An  examination  of  these  rejected  bills  would  not 

1  Cf.  Wrong,  "Second  Chambers  in  Canada,"  The  New 
Statesman^  London,  February  7,  19 14;  Gazette,  Montreal, 
April  27,  1915. 

[272] 


PARLIAMENT:    THE  SENATE 

disclose  that  many  of  them  assailed  the  interest  a  claim 
of  any  of  the  provinces;   and  it  would  seem  that   *^ 
the  claim  that  the  senate  represents  the  provinces   on  only 
and  safeguards  their  interests  grows  exclusively   °**®^®8 
out  of  the   peculiar  interests  of  Quebec.     This 
much  is  certain:   one  of  the  earliest  recognitions 
of  the  principle  that  the  senate  represents  the 
provinces  is  contained  in  the  section  of  the  con- 
stitution of  1867  that  continues  for  Quebec  the 
senatorial  divisions  that  came  into  existence  in 
1856,  when   for  the  first  time  in   any  country 
under  the  British  crown,  part  of  the  members 
of  the  upper  house  of  a  legislature  were  popu- 
larly  elected,    and   like   members   of  the   lower 
house  were  responsible  to  their  constituents. 

III.  Membership  of  Senate  from  1867  to  IQ16  — 
Provision  to  End  Deadlocks 

At     Confederation    there    were     seventy-two   in- 
senators    from  the  three  geographical    divisions   ^®^®^ 
created  in  1867.     There  were  twenty-four  from   number 
Ontario,  twenty-four  from  Quebec,  and  twenty- 
four  from  the  Maritime  Provinces.     In  the  years 
from   1867  to  1905   British  Columbia  came  into 
Confederation,     and     Manitoba,     Saskatchewan, 
and  Alberta  were  organized  as  provinces.     Addi- 
tions   to    the    senate   followed    the   incoming   of 
British   Columbia   and   the   organization   of  the 
three  prairie  provinces;    and  from  1906  to  191 6 
the  number  of  senators  stood  at  eighty-seven. 

[  273  ] 


senators 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Fourgeo-  I"  1916,  at  the  instance  of  the  Dominion 
graphical  parliament,  the  section  of  the  British  North 
In  senate  America  act  that  determines  the  number  of 
senators,  and  their  distribution  among  the 
provinces,  was  amended  by  parliament  at  West- 
minster; and  the  senate  has  since  consisted  of 
ninety-six  members.  There  are  now  four  geo- 
graphical divisions: 

Ontario 24 

Quebec 24 

Maritime  Provinces 24 

Nova  Scotia 10 

New  Brunswick 10 

Prince  Edward  Island 4 

Canada  beyond  the  Great  Lakes  .     24 

Manitoba 6 

Saskatchewan 6 

Alberta 6 

British  Columbia 6 


New- 
found- 
land's 
quota 


Provision 
to  end 
dead- 
locks of 
house 
and 
senate 


The  door  to  Confederation  has  always  been 
wide  open  to  Newfoundland.  Had  Newfound- 
land thrown  in  its  lot  with  the  Dominion  it  would, 
before  1916,  have  been  entitled  to  four  senators 
at  Ottawa.  By  the  1916  amendment  to  the 
British  North  America  act  it  would  now  be  entitled 
to  six  senators. 

In  the  event  of  a  deadlock  between  the  senate 
and  house  of  commons  additional  senators  may 
be  appointed;  but  the  number  of  these  appoint- 
ments has  always  been  fixed  by  the  British  North 
America  act  and  its  amendments.  From  1867 
to  the  amendment  of  1916  the  number  was  three 
or  six  —  one  or  two  from  each  division.     It  is  now 

[274] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

^        four  or  eight;    and  Including  seats  for  senators 
from  Newfoundland,  until  there  is  another  amend- 
ment to  the  British  North  America  act,  the  total 
number  of  senators  cannot  exceed  no.     In  the 
event  of  the  appointment  of  senators  to  end  a 
deadlock,  the  governor-general  "shall   not  sum- 
mon any  person  to  the  senate  until  each  of  the 
four  divisions  is  represented  by  twenty-four  sen- 
ators and  no  more." 
Criticism        The  Fathers  of  Confederation  had  to  answer 
deadlock    ^^^^i^^sms  of  this   provision   of  the  constitution, 
provision     as  they  had  of  the  abandonment  of  the  elective 
principle,    the    retaining    of   senatorial    divisions 
only  in  Quebec,  and  life  membership  in  the  senate. 
It  fell  to  George  Brown  to  answer  all  these  criti- 
cisms, apparently  because  the  criticisms  came  from 
Liberals  in  Ontario,   in  which   province   Brown, 
after  the  death  of  Baldwin  in  1858,  was  the  leader 
of  the  Liberal  party. 
Quebec's        It  was  objected  that  if  members  of  the  senate 
objection    ^gj.g  ^Q  i^g  appointed  for  life  the  number  should 
unlimited    be  unlimited,  so  that  in  the  event  of  a  deadlock 
Increase     between  the  senate  and  the  house  there  should 

In 

numbers  be  power  to  ovcrcome  the  deadlock  by  the  appoint- 
of  senate  j^gnt  of  additional  members.  "Under  the  British 
constitution,  in  the  case  of  a  legislative  union," 
said  Brown,  in  answering  this  criticism,  "that 
might  be  a  legitimate  provision.  But  honorable 
gentlemen  must  see  that  the  limitation  of  the 
numbers  in  the  upper  house  lies  at  the  base  of 
the  whole  compact  on  which  this   scheme  rests. 

C276] 


PARLIAMENT:    THE  SENATE 

It  is  perfectly  clear,  as  was  contended  by  those 
who  represented  Lower  Canada  in  the  conference/ 
that  if  the  number  of  legislative  councilors  was 
made  capable  of  increase,  you  would  thereby 
sweep  away  the  whole  protection  they  had  in  the 
upper  chamber."  ^ 


of  life 
member- 
ship of 
senate 


IV.  Life   Tenure    of    Senators  —  Salary  and 
Privileges 

George  Brown  was  a  convert  to  the  principle  Defense 
of  life  membership  in  the  senate.  He  frankly  ^ncipie 
admitted  his  conversion  when  he  was  called  upon 
to  defend  the  principle  in  the  legislative  assembly. 
Answering  the  objection  that  there  ought  to  be 
a  limit  to  the  term  of  senators,  he  told  the  assem- 
bly that  he  had  been  in  favor  of  a  limited  term. 
"I  thought  it  would  be  well,"  he  said,  "to  provide 
for  a  more  frequent  change  in  the  composition 
of  the  upper  house,  and  lessen  the  danger  of  the 
chamber  being  largely  composed  of  gentlemen 
whose  advanced  years  might  forbid  the  punctual 
and  vigorous  discharge  of  their  public  duties." 


The  objection  to  this  —  Brown  continued  —  was  very 
strong.  It  was  said:  "Suppose  you  appoint  them  for  nine 
years,  what  will  be  the  effect?  For  the  last  three  or  four 
years  of  their  term  they  would  be  anticipating  its  expiring, 
and  anxiously  looking  to  the  administration  of  the  day  for 
reappointment;  and  the  consequence  would  be  that  a  third 
of  the  members  would  be  under  the  influence  of  the  executive.'* 
The  desire  was  to  render  the  upper  house  a  thoroughly  inde- 


Con- 
ception 
of  senate 
of  fathers 
of 

Confed- 
eration 


*  At  Quebec. 


*  Mackenzie,  307-308. 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

pendent  body  —  one  that  would  be  in  the  best  position  to 
canvass  dispassionately  the  measures  of  the  lower  house, 
and  stand  up  for  the  public  interests  in  opposition  to  hasty 
or  partisan  legislation.* 

Conditions      A  senator  can  resign  at  any  time  by  a  writing 
that  vacate  m^Jer  his  hand  addressed  to  the  governor-general; 

seatin  ^  ^.  ' 

senate  and  the  seat  or  a  senator  becomes  vacant  m  any 
of  the  following  cases:  (i)  If  for  two  consecutive 
sessions  of  parliament  he  fails  to  attend  the 
senate;  ^  (2)  if  he  becomes  the  subject  or  citizen 
of  a  foreign  power;  (3)  if  he  is  adjudged  bank- 
rupt, or  insolvent,  or  becomes  a  public  defaulter; 
(4)  if  he  is  attainted  of  treason  or  convicted  of 
felony  or  of  any  infamous  crime;  (5)  if  he  ceases 
to  be  qualified  in  respect  of  property  or  residence. 
Another  It  is   a  constitutional  fiction  in  Canada  that 

tot°o^  wages  or  salaries  are  not  paid  to  senators  or 
fiction  members  of  the  house  of  commons,  or  to  members 
of  the  provincial  legislatures.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
wages  and  traveling  expenses  have  been  paid 
to  legislators  ever  since  the  first  legislature  in 
Canada  came  into  existence  in  Halifax  in  1758. 
Otherwise    the    existence    of    popularly    elected 

1  Mackenzie,  308. 

2  The  seat  in  the  senate  of  the  oldest  senator,  Hon-W.  J. 
Macdonald,  of  British  Columbia,  has  been  declared  vacant 
by  reason  of  his  absence  for  two  consecutive  sessions.  He 
occupied  his  seat  for  forty-four  years,  and  was  one  of  the 
half-dozen  left  of  all  the  appointments  made  by  Sir  John  A. 
Macdonald.  The  seat  of  Hon.  Dr.  J.  E.  Robertson,  of  Prince 
Edward  Island,  was  declared  vacant  for  the  same  reason,  in 
the  same  motion.  —  Tribuney  Winnipeg,  April  29,  1915. 

[278] 


PARLIAMENT:    THE  SENATE 

legislatures  would  have  been  impossible.  But 
payments  to  members  of  parliament  at  Ottawa, 
and  of  the  provincial  legislatures,  are  described 
in  enactments  and  in  parliamentary  debate, 
as  indemnities;  and  the  constitutional  fiction  is 
that  these  payments  are  not  in  return  for  services 
rendered,  but  to  recoup  members  for  loss  they 
may  sustain  in  attending  to  their  parliamentary 
duties. 

Senators  and  members  of  the  house  of  commons   salaries 
have    always    received    equal    indemnities.     For   °^      ^^ 
some    years    after    Confederation    the    payment 
was  $600  per  session,  with  allowances  for  main- 
tenance on  the  journeys  to  and  from  Ottawa,  and 
a  mileage  allowance  of  ten  cents  a  mile. 

Several  times  between  1867  and  1905  the  indem-   Free 
nity  was  increased.     For  some  years  it  stood  at   ^^^j^ 
$1500;   and  in  1905  an  act  was  passed  which  fixed   and 
the  payment  at  $2500  a  session.     At  that  time  a   ^^°^ 
law  was  also  passed  under  which  senators  and 
members  of  the  house  of  commons   travel   free 
on  all  Canadian   railways.     They  have   also   the 
privilege  of  franking  letters  and  parcels  through 
the  mails,  a  privilege  which  members  of  parlia- 
ment at  Westminster  have  not  enjoyed  since  the 
penny  post  was  established  in  the  United  Kingdom 
in   1840.     During  the  session   at  Ottawa  letters 
can  be  sent  to  senators  and  members  of  the  house 
of  commons  free  of  postage. 


[279] 


state  cere- 
monies 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

V.  The  Chamber  of  the  Senate 

Throne        The  chamber  of  the  senate,  colloquially  known 
^  as  the  red  chamber,  from  the  color  of  the  uphol- 

senate  .  ,  _ 

stery  and  hangings,  is  modeled  on  the  chamber  of 
the  house  of  lords  at  Westminster.  There  is  no 
woolsack;  for  Canada  has  no  lord  chancellor 
to  act  as  the  presiding  officer  of  the  senate.  But, 
as  in  the  house  of  lords,  there  is  a  throne;  for  the 
senate  chamber  is  the  scene  of  the  state  cere- 
monial attending  the  opening  and  proroguing  of 
parliament. 
Scene  of  The  commons  are  summoned  thither  by  the 
gentleman  usher  of  the  black  rod,  when  the 
king's  speech  at  the  opening  or  closing  of  the 
session  is  about  to  be  read  in  English  and 
French  by  the  governor-general.  It  is  in  the 
senate  chamber  also  that  the  royal  assent  is 
given  to  bills  that  have  gone  through  all  their 
stages  in  both  houses. 
The  bar  The  chait  of  the  speaker  of  the  senate  is  a  little 
°^*^f.  to  the  left  of  the  dais  on  which  stands  the  throne; 
and  immediately  in  front  of  the  chair  is  the  table 
at  which  sit  the  clerk  of  the  parliament  and  clerk 
of  the  senate,  and  the  clerk  assistant.  The  place 
of  black  rod  is  at  the  bar,  at  the  entrance  to  the 
chamber;  and  it  is  at  this  bar  that  the  speaker, 
the  sergeant-at-arms,  and  the  commons  stand 
when  they  have  responded  to  the  summons  of 
black  rod  to  attend  on  the  governor-general  in 
the  senate  chamber. 

C280] 


of 

senators 


PARLIAMENT:    THE  SENATE 

The  chamber  is  spacious  and  handsome,  with 
large  galleries  for  visitors  —  galleries  which  are 
crowded  when  the  governor-general  attends  in 
state  to  open  a  new  session  of  parliament. 

The  house  of  commons  at  Ottawa  followed  the  Seating 
seating  plan  long  in  use  in  the  house  of  representa- 
tives, and  still  in  use  in  the  senate,  at  Washington. 
Each  member  sits  at  a  desk.  In  the  senate  chairs 
are  provided  —  a  departure  from  the  usage  of 
the  house  of  lords,  where,  as  in  the  house  of  com- 
mons at  Westminster,  members  sit  on  benches. 
The  chairs,  two  deep,  face  each  other  the  length 
of  the  chamber;  and  between  the  front  rows  there 
is  a  broad  aisle  extending  from  the  throne  to  the 
bar.  Beyond  the  bar  is  the  antechamber,  which 
is  not  accounted  a  part  of  the  senate  chamber. 
Senators  who  are  supporters  of  the  government 
sit,  as  at  Westminster,  to  the  right  of  the  speaker. 
Members  of  the  opposition  sit  to  the  left. 

Partly  in  accordance  with  long  usage,  and  partly   The 
in  accordance  with  statute,  the  ministry  at  West-    *^^^* 
minster  is  divided  —  usually  unevenly  —  between    senate 
the  house  of  lords  and  the  house  of  commons. 
Every  member  of  the  cabinet  at   Ottawa  must 
by  usage  be  either  of  the  house  of  commons  or 
of  the  senate.^     But  neither  by  usage  nor  by  law 

*  "It  was  reserved  for  the  Australian  Commonwealth 
act  (enacted  at  Westminster  thirty-three  years  later  than 
the  enactment  of  the  constitution  of  Dominion  of  Canada) 
expressly  to  state  that  a  minister  must  become  a  member 
of  the  legislature  within  a  prescribed  time."  —  H.  E.  Egerton, 
"Federations  within  the  British  Empire,"  123-124. 

[281] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Govern- 
ment 
leader  in 
senate 


is  it  necessary  that  any  member  of  the  cabinet 
should  be  of  the  senate.  There  have  been 
cabinets  of  which  no  member  was  of  the  senate.^ 
It  is  seldom  that  more  than  one  or  two  members 
of  the  cabinet  are  of  the  upper  house;  and  thus 
it  comes  about  that  in  the  senate  chamber  there 
is  nothing  that  corresponds  with  the  treasury 
bench  in  the  house  of  commons. 

There  is,  however,  always  a  leader  for  the 
government  in  the  senate.  The  exposition  of  the 
policies  of  the  government  is  deputed  to  this 
leader;  and  it  is  his  duty  to  pilot  government 
bills  through  the  upper  house. 
Questions  To  the  government  leader  in  the  senate  inter- 
rogatories are  also  addressed;  for  questions  to 
ministers,  with  all  the  advantages,  direct  and 
indirect,  that  accrue  therefrom  in  a  democratic 
form  of  government,  are  as  much  a  parliamentary 
institution  at  Ottawa  as  they  are  at  Westminster. 

There  is  also  a  leader  of  the  opposition  in  the 
senate.  The  member  to  whom  this  position  is 
assigned  is  elected  in  party  caucus  —  a  caucus 
that  under  normal  conditions  is  held  during  the 
first  days  of  a  new  parliament.  If  the  new  par- 
liament has   brought  with  it  a  new  government, 

1  "At  Confederation,  and  for  many  years  thereafter, 
ministers  holding  portfolios  sat  in  the  senate.  There  are 
none  such  now.  Mr.  Loughed  leads  the  senate  capably, 
but  he  is  not  the  head  of  a  department,  and  this  state  of  things 
is  not  good  for  the  country,  nor  good  for  the  senate,  nor  does 
it  tend  to  strengthen  the  constitution."  —  Gazette^  Montreal 
(Canada's  oldest  Conservative  newspaper).  May  2,  1917. 

C282: 


Opposition 
leader  in 


PARLIAMENT:    THE  SENATE 

and  if  there  was  a  member  of  the  cabinet  in  the 
senate  of  the  preceding  parHament,  the  position 
of  leader  of  the  opposition  goes,  almost  as  a  matter 
of  course,  to  this  senator. 

VI .  A  Merging  of  the  Old  and  the  New  — 
Procedure  in  the  Senate 

In  the  early  years  of  Confederation,  while  the  Dominion 

provincial  spirit  was  still  strong,  it  was  often  a  ^^^^~ 

complaint  of  members  of  the  house  of  commons  legis- 

from  the  Maritime  Provinces  that  members  from  Ji^*^®°^ 

Upper 

Ontario  and  Quebec  were  too  much  inclined  to  and 
regard  the  parliament  of  the  Dominion  as  an  ^^^\ 
enlargement  and  continuation  of  the  legislature 
of  the  United  Provinces.  It  was  not  unnatural 
that  the  members  from  what  are  now  the  central 
provinces  should  so  regard  the  Dominion  parlia- 
ment. It  was  in  the  assembly  of  the  legislature 
of  the  United  Provinces  that  the  struggle  for 
responsible  government  had  been  successfully 
waged.  Success  in  that  struggle  had  paved  the 
way  for  Confederation.  Conditions  in  the  United 
Provinces  had  made  Confederation  imperative 
and  greatly  hastened  its  realization. 

The  new  parliament  had   been  established  in   Newoc- 
Ottawa,  which  in   1866  had  become  the  capital   I^^P^t^^* 

.  legislative 

of   the   United    Provinces;    and    it   was    holding   buuding 
its  sessions  in  a  parliament  house  that  had  been   °^^f^*®<^ 

.  .  Proyinces 

built  for  the  legislature  of  the  United  Provinces. 

Party  lines  as  they  were  developed  in  the  first 

five  years  of  Confederation  were  similar  to  party 

[283] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Party        Hnes    in    the    United    Provinces.     In    the   early 
before        years  of  Confederation  the  Liberal-Conservatives 
and  after    ranged  themselves  on  the  side  of  protective  tariffs 
erati^*^'     ^"^  against  democratic  electoral  franchises,  and 
the  Liberals  on  the  side  of  free  trade  and  democ- 
racy, much  as  had  been  the  alignment  of  political 
parties  on  these  questions  in  the  old  legislature 
from  1 841  to  1866. 
Usages  The  usages  and  procedure  of  the  old  legislature, 

^^  ^       moreover,  were  continued  in  the  Dominion  parlia- 

procedure  ^ 

of  old        ment;   and  for  members  of  the  senate  or  house 
legislature  ^f   commons    who    had    been    of  the   legislative 
council    or    assembly    of  the  United   Provinces, 
there  was  little  outward  change  after  the  consti- 
tutional transition  of  1867. 
Procedure       The  procedure  and  ceremonial  of  the  senate  of 
in  senate     j^j^  ^^.^  jj^^jg  different   from  those  of  the  legis- 
lative council  of  1 841-1866;    for  procedure  in  the 
earlier  era,  as  in  the  later,  was  modeled  as  closely 
as  possible  on  that  of  the  house  of  lords. 
Speech  A  new  session  is  opened  with  the  speech  from 

^m  the     ^j^g  throne  —  a  speech  which  is  prepared  for  the 
governor-general  by  the  cabinet,   and  in  which 
the    legislative    work    of   the    session    is    briefly 
outlined.     An   address  in  reply  is  adopted,  and 
the  senate  is  then  ready  for  any  business  that 
may  be  awaiting  it. 
Procedure       Bills  originate  in  the  senate  —  private  members' 
on  biUs      jjjjig  ^j^j  j^jjjg  fQj.  (divorce  —  rather  than  govern- 
ment bills.     Leave  to  introduce  a  bill  is  given 
by  the  senate,  and  the  bill  is  read  a  first  time. 
[284] 


PARLIAMENT:    THE  SENATE 

These  stages  are  formal.  It  Is  seldom  that  there 
is  any  discussion  either  of  a  motion  for  leave  to 
introduce  or  at  first  reading.  At  second  read- 
ing the  general  principle  of  a  bill  is  discussed; 
and  after  being  read  a  second  time  it  goes  to 
committee. 

The  bill  may  go  to  committee  of  the  whole 
house,  or  to  a  standing  committee.  In  either 
case  clauses  and  details  are  discussed  in  committee. 
It  is  reported  back  to  the  senate,  with  or  without 
amendment,  and  is  then  ready  for  third  reading. 
At  this  stage  amendments  are  still  possible,  and 
it  is  also  possible  to  reject  a  bill  at  third  reading, 
or  to  refer  it  back  to  committee. 

After  a  bill  is  read  a  third  time  it  is  carried  to   House 
the  house  of  commons,  and  if  amendments  are   ®™®°<^" 

ments 

made  there  it  is  returned  to  the  senate  for  con-   to  a 
currence   or   non-concurrence   with    the    amend-   ^f,^*® 

Dill 

ments.  Discussion  between  the  two  houses  over 
bills  is  by  message,  not  by  conference,  as  is  the 
rule  at  Washington,  and  as  was  the  usage  at 
Westminster  until  1851.^ 

Finance  bills,  or  bills  which,  if  they  became  Finance 
law,  would  impose  a  charge  on  the  treasury  of  ^^^^^^ 
the  Dominion,  cannot  originate  in  the  senate. 
The  provision  that  every  bill  for  appropriating 
any  part  of  the  public  revenue,  or  for  imposing 
any  tax,  must  originate  in  the  house  of  commons,  is 
intended  to  crystallize  the  constitutional  practice 
at  Westminster,  and  make  it  plain  that  the  people 

^  Cf.  Porritt,  "  Unreformed  House  of  Commons,"  I,  560. 

C285: 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


hold  the  purse-strings.^     It  is  within  the  power 
of  the  senate  to  reject  a  finance  bill,  but  it  can 
make  no  amendment  to  a  bill  of  this  character. 
Senate  Unlike  the  senate  at  Washington,  the  Canadian 

°°kUmr^  senate  has  no  part  in  originating  or  molding 
tariff  biUs  tariff  legislation.  Individual  senators  may  have 
some  influence  with  the  cabinet  when  a  tariflF 
bill  is  being  framed  by  a  committee  of  the  cabinet 
for  acceptance  first  by  the  cabinet,  and  then  by 
the  house  of  commons.  But  as  a  body  the  senate 
has  never  had  any  influence  in  determining  the 
details  of  that  part  of  the  National  Policy  of  the 
Dominion  that  centers  in  the  tariff  and  the  bounty 
system.  In  such  legislation,  in  practice,  the  only 
function  of  the  senate  is  to  give  formal  con- 
firmation to  bills  sent  to  it  from  the  house  of 
commons. 

As  regards  the  initiation  of  bills,  the  activities 
of  the  senate  are  much  less  than  those  of  the  house.- 
of  commons,  where  most  of  the  members  of  the 
cabinet  have  their  seats.  In  the  forty-six  years 
from  1867  to  1913,  5871  bills  were  passed  by  the 
house,  and  sent  to  the  senate.  In  this  period, 
1294  bills,  originating  in  the  senate,  were  sent 
to  the  house  of  commons. 

Bills  for  divorce,  which  by  usage  always 
originate  in  the  senate,  are  included  in  the  total 
of  1294  bills.  In  the  first  thirty  years  of  Con- 
federation petitions  for  divorce  were  not  numerous. 
In  no  year  before  19CX)  did  the  number  of  divorce 
1  Riddell,  "Constitution  of  Canada,"  95. 
[286] 


much  less 
active 
body 
than  the 


BUls  for 
divorce 


PARLIAMENT:    THE  SENATE 

bills  which  received  the  royal  assent  exceed  six.^ 
Petitions  were  few  because  in  the  Maritime 
Provinces  and  in  British  Columbia  there  are 
courts  for  matrimonial  causes.  These  four  prov- 
inces are  in  practice  outside  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  senate  as  regards  divorce.  French  Canada, 
from  its  large  Roman  Catholic  population, 
presents  no  petitions  for  divorce. 

A  few  petitions  come  from  the  English-speaking  Area  of 
and    Protestant    population    of  Quebec.     Other-   5^°^°" 
wise  divorce  petitions  come  only  from  the  part  which 
of  the  Dominion  that  lies  between  the  Ottawa   p®*^*^°^ 

for 

River   and   the   eastern   foothills   of  the   Rocky  divorce 

Mountains;    and  until  1900  there  were  not  more  ^® 
than  two  and  a  half  million  people  in  this  vast 
territory.     Of  these,  two  millions  were  in  Ontario. 

Divorce    bills    increased    in    number    between  women 

IQOO   and    1916.     There  were  fourteen  in    1906;  f^,, 

r  .      ^  1     •         1        1  r  r    lobbyists 

nmeteen  m  191 1;    and   m  the  last  nve  years  of  for 
this   period   there  were  from   forty-five  to  fifty   ^^'^^ 
petitions    at    each    session    of    parliament.     At 
times  the  precincts  of  the  senate  were  thronged 
with  women  who  were  lobbying  for  or  against 
these  divorce  bills.'^ 

These  bills,  which  are  discussed  at  third  read-   Dis- 
ing,  take  up  much  of  the  time  of  the  senate.     In   ^^!^f° 
the  common  acceptance  or  the  term  they  cannot   reading 
be  described  as  legislative  measures. 

1  Cf.  Canada  Year  Book,  191 1,  429. 

2  Cf.  Northrup,  "Divorce  Bills  in  the  Senate,"  GazrtU, 
Montreal,  January  11,  1916. 

[287] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


The 

senate  as 
a  revising 
chamber 


Senate 
not  an 
impartial 
chamber 
of  review 


Spasmodic 
service  as 
a  revising 
body 


VII.  The    Senate  as  a  Revising    Body  —  Popular 
Indifference  to  its  Existence  and  Proceedings 

It  is  a  modern  claim  for  the  house  of  lords  that 
it  acts  as  a  revising  chamber.  The  same  claim 
is  made  for  the  senate  at  Ottawa.  To  what 
extent  the  senate  acts  as  a  revising  chamber  can 
to  some  degree  be  judged  from  the  record  of  its 
work  from  1867  to  1913.  It  amended  1246  of 
the  5871  bills  it  received  from  the  house  of  com- 
mons, or  21.5  per  cent.  It  rejected  113  bills, 
or  2  per  cent.^ 

As  furnishing  a  basis  for  the  claim  that  the 
senate  is  of  value  as  a  revising  body  these  figures 
covering  a  period  of  forty-six  years  are  of  only 
limited  service.  They  cannot  be  taken  at  their 
face  value.  They  cannot  be  accepted  as  a  measure 
of  the  service  of  the  senate  as  an  independent 
and  impartial  chamber  of  review,  because  since 
1874,  and  especially  since  1896,  it  has  been  well 
known  that  the  vigilance  of  the  senate  in  amend- 
ing or  rejecting  bills  depends  on  conditions  which 
should  have  no  influence  with  a  really  independent 
or  impartial  chamber  of  revision. 

In  the  forty-two  years  from  1874  to  1916  — 
a  period  during  which  the  Liberals  were  in  power 
from  1874  to  1878,  and  again  from  1896  to  1911, 
and  the  Conservatives  from  1878  to  1896,  and 
again  from  191 1  onward  —  the  vigilance  of  the 
senate  as  a  chamber  of  revision  was  not  continuous. 
^  Cf.  Ross,  "The  Senate  of  Canada,"  76. 

[288] 


PARLIAMENT:    THE  SENATE 

It  was  spasmodic.  The  senate  was  vigilant  only 
in  the  years  that  followed  a  change  of  govern- 
ment. Its  vigilance  depended  on  whether  or  not 
the  political  complexion  of  its  majority  matched 
that  of  the  administration  as  supported  by  the 
majority  in  the  house  of  commons. 

Second  chambers  in  the  legislatures  of  the  Second 
British  North  American  provinces  were  contin-  ^^' 
uously  unsatisfactory  from  1791  to  1866.  Par-  contin- 
ticularly  was  this  the  case  with  the  legislative  ^^J]^ 
councils  of  Upper  and  Lower  Canada  and  of  the  factory 
United  Provinces.  ^ 

In  framing  the  British  North  America  act  the   Confed- 
Fathers    of   Confederation    desired    to    create    a   ^^^g^i 
senate  that  would  begin  a  new  and  better  era  in   to  begin 
the  history  of  upper  chambers  in  Canada.     The   ^^°^J 
professed  expectation  of  the  framers  of  the  con-   upper 
stitution  was  that  the  upper  chamber  at  Ottawa   ^*™^**" 
would    be    "an    independent    body,    moderating   Canada 
between    parties  —  a    body    of  judicial    temper, 
and  of    rarer    atmosphere    than    the   house   of 
commons."  2 

The  expectation  of  1 864-1 867  has  not  been  even   An 
partially    realized.     The    position    of   senator    is   ^^' 
a  highly  privileged  one.     He  is  free  from  individ-   not 
ual  claims  by  constituents  on  his  time  and  energy   '®*^®^ 

^  Cf.  Durham's  Report,  II,  82;  and  H.  L.  Debates,  June 
IS,  1854. 

2  "  The  Round  Table,"  III,  719.  "  The  senate  was  intended 
to  be  the  drag  on  the  house  of  commons  coach,  a  check  upon 
hasty  legislation  arising  out  of  feverish  popular  agitation."  — 
GazettCy  Montreal,  May  2,  1917. 

C289] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE   DOMINION  OF   CANADA 

during  the  pariiamentary  session.     He  takes  no 
part  in  elections.     Political  propaganda  has  never 
made  any  large  demands  on  his  time.     A  senator 
is   free  constitutionally  to  play  a   bold,  strong, 
and  independent  part  in  the  political  life  of  the 
Dominion.     But  privilege  and  freedom  have  been 
of  no  avail.     Senators,  as  members  of  one  division 
of  parHament,  have  never  played   a  prominent 
part,  to  say  nothing  of  a  bold  or  strong  part,  in 
Dominion  politics. 
Only  five       From  Confederation  to  191 7,  George  Brown, 
mTonli     ^^°  ^^^  leader  of  the  Liberal  party  in  Ontario; 
fame  in      Sir  John  J.  C.  Abbott,  who  was  premier  of  the 
hoT       Dominion    1891-1892;     Sir    Mackenzie    Bowell, 
1867  to      who  was  premier  from  1894  to  1896;    Sir  Oliver 
"^^  Mowat,  who  was  premier  of  Ontario  from   1872 

to  1896  and  minister  of  justice  at  Ottawa  from 
1896  to  1897;    and  Sir  Richard  Cartwright,  who 
was  minister  of  finance  at  Ottawa  from  1874  ^^ 
1878,  and  minister  of  trade  and  commerce  from 
1896  to  191 1,  were  the  only  men  of  national  fame 
who  were  of  the  senate. 
Senators         Ovcr  300  scnatots  —  to  be  exact,  304  —  were 
to'^thr'    appointed  in  the  years  from  1867  to  1914.^    Not 
man  in  the  more  than  ten  of  them  were  of   front    rank   in 
street "      Dominion  politics,  or  were  men  who,  after  Confed- 
eration, earned  for   themselves  even  mention  in 
the  political  history  of  Canada.     Wrong,  a  writer 
on  Canadian  constitutional  history  of    interna- 
tional fame,   asserted  in   1 914  that  the  average 
1  Cf.  Ross,  121-124. 
[290] 


PARLIAMENT:    THE  SENATE 

Canadian  —  Balfour's  "the  man  in  the  street"  — 
would  be  puzzled  if  asked  to  draw  up  a  list  of 
half  a  dozen  of  the  senators  at  Ottawa.^  A 
similar  statement  might  have  been  made  at  any 
time  in  the  forty  years  that  preceded  the  great 
war. 

Except   for   an    agitation    against   the   senate,   Popular 
carried  on  by  the  Liberal  party  for  a  few  years   ^*^^®^" 
before  the  Liberals  took  office  in  1896,  the  people   senate 
of  Canada   have    been    continuously   indifferent   '^^  "^ 
to   the    senate    and    its    proceedings.     Canadian   ings 
newspapers  for  the  most  part  ignore  its  debates. 

There  is,  in  practice,  no  press  gallery  in  the   ignored 

senate.     There  is  ample  accommodation  for  re-   ^^ 

.  ,  news- 

porters.     But  the  newspapers  will  not  assign  men   papers 

to  the  senate.  A  reporter,  who  is  a  salaried 
employee  of  the  senate,  furnishes,  free  of  cost, 
summaries  of  the  debates  to  all  the  newspaper 
correspondents  at  Ottawa.  His  work  is  of  little 
public  value;  for  nine  out  of  ten  of  the  daily 
newspapers  regard  senate  debates  as  not  worth 
the  cost  of  telegraph  tolls.  Similar  neglect  is  the 
fate  of  the  senate  with  the  weekly  and  semi- 
weekly  newspapers  all  over  the  Dominion. 

"A  measure  or  criterion  that  we  have  of  the  Popular 
value  which  is  placed  upon  speeches  by  members  ^*^^®'"- 
of  parliament,'*  said  Cartwright,  government  realized 
leader  in  the  senate,  in  191 1,  "is  the  synopsis  |^J^ 
which  we  find  in  the  public  press  from  day  to 

^  Cf.  Wrong,  "Second  Chambers  in  Canada,"  The  New 
Statesman,  London,  February  7,  1914. 

[291] 


senate 


EVOLUTION    OF   THE    DOMINION    OF    CANADA 


Reason 
for 

popular 
indiffer- 
ence 


day  as  to  what  took  place  in  this  chamber.  We, 
in  this  chamber,  have  appropriated  a  very  sub- 
stantial sum  for  the  purpose  of  disseminating  to 
the  press  a  synopsis  of  our  deliberations.  And 
what  do  we  find  ?  We  find  that  the  value  placed 
by  the  press  upon  these  deliberations  is  indicated 
in  about  a  quarter  of  a  column  in  the  ordinary 
newspaper  of  the  day,  and  sometimes  not  even 
that.''  1 

The  reason  for  popular  indifference  to  the  senate 
is  that  its  creation  in  1867  did  not  begin  a  better 
era  in  the  history  of  second  chambers  in  Canada. 
The  senate,  at  no  time  since  1867,  has  aroused 
such  intense  popular  hostility  as  was  aroused  by 
the  legislative  councils  of  Upper  and  Lower 
Canada  of  i 791-1840.  It  has  never  flouted 
popular  opinion.  Nor  has  it  ever  entered  on  a 
contest  with  the  house  of  commons  over  any 
measure  in  which  there  was  keen  popular  interest. 

Unlike  the  legislative  councils  of  Upper  and 
Lower  Canada,  the  senate  has  always  been  free 
legislature  of  office-holders.  Unlike  the  legislative  councils 
under  the  constitution  of  1791,  also,  it  has  never 
attempted  the  position  of  predominant  partner. 
None  the  less,  part  of  Newcastle's  character- 
ization of  the  legislative  council  of  the  United 
Provinces  in  1854  —  his  insistence  that  the 
council  did  not  exercise  the  influence  in  the 
province  that  it  ought  to  possess  —  might  be 
applied  to  the  senate  from  1867  to  191 7. 
1  Senate  Debates,  March  29,  191 1,  p.  508. 

[292] 


Never  an 
ambitious 
branch  of 


PARLIAMENT:    THE  SENATE 

The  senate  admittedly  has  not  exercised  the 
influence  in  the  Dominion  or  in  parliament  that 
was  expected  by  the  Fathers  of  Confederation.  ^ 
There  are  no  public  records  of  refusals  to  accept 
nomination  to  the  senate  as  there  are  to  accept 
membership  in  the  legislative  council  of  the  United 
Provinces.  There  is  never  any  lack  of  claimants 
for  appointment  —  claimants  with  efficient  press 
agents  —  when  vacancies  occur  in  the  senate 
owing  to  death  or  to  the  automatic  ending  of  the 
careers  of  senators  in  consequence  of  failure  — 
mostly  due  to  old  age  —  to  attend  its  sessions. 

It  is  a  matter  of  history,  however,  that  a  seat 
in  the  cabinet  has  seldom  been  offered  to  a 
senator;  and  since  1871,  when  administrations 
at  Ottawa  began  to  have  power  to  make  nomi- 
nations, it  has  been  notorious  that  the  men  nwst 
anxious  to  become  senators  —  the  men  to  whom 
about  ninety-eight  per  cent  of  the  nominations 
went  between  1871  and  1916  —  were  men  who 
regarded  a  senatorship  and  a  life  salary  as  their 
due  for  services  in  Dominion  or  provincial  pol- 
itics to  the  party  in  power. 

^  "  For  one  cause  or  another  the  senate  has  scarcely  had  fair 
play.  When  formed,  the  intention  was  that  it  should  be 
non-partisan,  a  sort  of  judicial  tribunal  supervising  and  re- 
viewing the  legislation  of  the  commons  with  an  eye  single  to 
the  merits  of  that  legislation.  In  the  course  of  years  this 
purpose  has  somewhat  failed."  —  GazetUt  Montreal,  May  2, 
1917. 


Class  of 
men  who 
seek 
appoint- 
ment CO 
senate 


[293] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

VIII.   The  Senate  and  the  Spoils   System  — 
Friction  between  the  House  and  the  Senate 

Senator-        "From  the  first,"  writes  Wrong,  "appointments 

■^^  *       to  the  senate  came  under  the  full  control  of  the 

of  party      mechanism   of  the   party.     The   security  of  the 

**'^*^°       position  for  life,  and  the  freedom  from  the  labors 

of  an  election,  have  made  a  senatorship  a  desirable 

crown   of  party   service;     and   to   this    use   the 

office    has    been    put.     The    view    is    generally 

current  in  Canada,  that  only  elderly  men  should 

be  appointed  to  the  senate."  ^ 

Only  party      "Men  who  have  given  long  service  in  the  house 

Interests    ^^  commons, "  continues  Wrong,  "  sometimes  claim 

sidered      a   senatorship   for  their  declining  years.     Other 

claims   are   from   those  who  have   given   similar 

service  in  the  party  organization,  or  it  may  be 

have   contributed   liberally  to   the   party   funds. 

No   government.    Liberal    or   Conservative,    has 

made  any  serious  effort  to  save  the  post  of  senator 

as  a  reward  for  any  other  kind  of  public  service, 

and  in  the  present  condition  of  public  thought  it 

would  be  quixotic  to  expect  that  anything  but 

party  interests  should  be  considered."  ^ 

^  At  the  time  the  Parliamentary  Guide  for  1912  was 
compiled,  four  senatorships  were  vacant.  Of  the  83  senators 
then  on  the  roll,  two  were  under  50  years  of  age;  14  were 
between  50  and  60;  24  between  60  and  70;  32  over  70  and 
under  80;  and  11  over  80  years.  There  have  been  instances 
of  men  of  95  and  96  in  attendance  as  senators. 

2  Wrong,  "  Second  Chambers  in  Canada,"  The  New  States- 
many  February  7,  1914. 

[294] 


PARLIAMENT:    THE  SENATE 

From  the  early  years  of  Confederation  appoint-   To 
ments  to  the  senate  were  always  regarded  as  the   71?°" 
patronage  of  a  political  party.    The  principle  that   the 
to  the  victors  belong  the  spoils  is  nearly  as  old  in   *^'°"* 
Canada  as  it  is  in  the  United  States;    and  in  the 
years  before  the  war  at  Ottawa  its   application 
was  almost  as  wide  as  it  ever  was  at  Washington. 

From  Confederation  to  191 8,  when,  as  a  war 
measure,  there  was  some  reform  in  the  distribu- 
tion of  patronage,  the  principle  was  continuously 
applied  to  the  speakership  of  the  house  of  com- 
mons and  of  the  senate,*  and  to  appointments 
to  the  higher  positions  on  the  clerical  staff  of 
parliament,  to  appointments  as  judges,  and  to 
many  of  the  prized  positions  in  the  civil  service 
of  the  Dominion.  The  principle  was  also  applied 
to  a  large  range  of  government  purchases  of  sup- 
plies, and  particularly  to  contracts  for  printing 
and  advertising,  which  went  only  to  newspapers 
which  supported  the  political  party  in  power.^ 

^  The  speaker  of  the  senate,  who  Is  paid  a  salary  of  ^4000 
and  provided  with  an  apartment  within  the  parliament  build- 
ing, is  appointed  by  the  government.  The  speaker  of  the  house 
of  commons,  who  also  receives  $4cxx>  a  year  and  is  provided 
with  an  apartment,  is  elected  by  the  house  at  the  opening 
of  a  new  parliament.  But  the  successful  candidate  for  the 
chair  is  in  practice  always  nominated  by  the  government. 

*  On  the  order  paper  of  the  house  of  commons  on  April 
25,  1917,  there  was  notice  of  a  resolution  to  be  moved  from  the 
opposition  benches  condemning  the  spoils  system.  It  read 
as  follows:  "That,  in  the  opinion  of  this  house,  the  prevailing 
system  of  party  patronage  constitutes  a  menace  to  honest 

C  295 1 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Senate  The   spoils  systcm  was   most   rigidly   adhered 

and  the  ^^  '^^  appointments  to  the  senate.  "In  nearly 
QTstem  half  a  century,"  writes  a  Canadian  critic  of  the 
senate,  "the  claims  of  party  have  been  ignored 
in  only  a  single  appointment.  The  Canadian 
constitution  reposes  a  vast  patronage  in  govern- 
ments. The  situation  in  Canada  is  exactly  the 
situation  that  would  exist  in  the  United  States 
if  the  president  appointed  every  senator,  every 
state  governor,  and  every  federal  and  state  judge 
throughout  the  Union.  This  is  perhaps  the  reason 
why  changes  of  government  occur  so  seldom  in 
the  Dominion.  The  prospect  of  a  life  seat  in  the 
senate  attracts  many  powerful  supporters  in  the 
constituencies.  It  assists  discipline,  and  reduces 
contumacy  in  the  house  of  commons."  ^ 
Friction  Friction  between  the  senate  and  the  house  of 

commons  is  infrequent.  It  occurred  in  the 
quarter  of  a  century  before  the  great  war  only 
in  the  first  few  years  of  the  Liberal  govern- 
ment of  1 896-1 91 1,  and  in  the  first  few  years  of 
the  Conservative  government  that  was  in  power 
from  191 1  to  1917.  In  each  case  the  friction  was 
traceable  to  the  fact  that  both  political  parties 

and  efficient  government,  incites  to  great  waste  of  resources 
and  extravagance,  in  its  application  to  expenditures  and 
appointments  for  military  purposes,  greatly  injures  the  proper 
fulfillment  of  our  duty  to  the  nation,  tends  inevitably  to  cor- 
rupt and  lower  the  tone  of  public  morals,  and  should  forth- 
with be  eliminated  from  our  federal  administration." 
1  "The  Round  Table,"  III,  719-722. 

[296] 


between 

senate 

and 

house 

Infrequent 


PARLIAMENT:    THE  SENATE 

had  appointed  none  but  partisans  to  the  senate 
when  the  appointing  power  was  in  their  control. 

The  first  seventy-two  members  of  the  senate   Appoint- 
were   appointed   by   royal   proclamation.     These   ™®"*^ 
appointments  had  been  agreed  upon  before  the   senate 
new  constitution   became  effective.     From   1867   ^g^^to 
to  1873   a  Conservative  government,  with  Mac-   i878 
donald  as  premier,  was  in  power.     As  vacancies 
due  to  death  occurred,  and  as  additional  prov- 
inces   came    into    Confederation  —  Manitoba    in 
1870   and    British    Columbia  in   1871 — the    ap- 
pointments     to     the     senate    were     made     by 
Macdonald.     Thirty-two    senators    had    been   so 
appointed  before  Macdonald   went   out  of  office 
in  1873.     Only  one  was  of  the  Liberal  party.^ 

A  Liberal  government,  with  Alexander  Mac-  Liberals 
kenzie  of  Ontario  as  premier,  was  in  power  from  J^^o^ty 
1873  to  1878;  and  in  these  years  sixteen  senators, 
all  of  the  Liberal  party,  were  appointed.  Mac- 
donald and  the  Conservatives  were  returned  to 
power  in  1878,  and  the  Conservatives  were  con- 
tinuously in  office  until  1896.  In  these  eighteen 
years  eighty-five  senators,  all  Conservatives,  were 
appointed  by  the  successive  Conservative  govern- 
ments. The  result  was  that  when  the  Liberal 
government,  with  Laurier  as  premier,  came  into 
power  in  1896,  it  was  confronted  with  the  fact  that 
out  of  eighty-three  senators,  only  thirteen,  all  ap- 
pointed before  1878,  were  of  the  Liberal  party. 

^  Cf.  Willison,  "Some  Political  Leaders  in  the  Canadian 
Federation,"  50. 

[  297  ] 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

The  The  Liberals  were  in  power  from  1896  to  191 1. 

tevaw^  Eighty-one  senators,  all  Liberals/  were  appointed 
1896-1911  in  these  fifteen  years;  and  when  the  Conserva- 
tives, with  Robert  L.  Borden  as  premier,  took 
office  in  191 1,  of  the  eighty-seven  senators  only 
twenty-two  were  Conservatives. 
Partisan  After  each  of  these  changes  in  government  in 
rfs^te  ^^9^  ^"^  ^9^^'  when  the  majority  of  the  senate 
realized  that  for  four  or  five  years,  at  least,  it 
would  be  in  opposition  to  the  government,  and 
to  the  majority  in  the  house  of  commons,  there 
was  a  quickening  of  activity  in  rejecting  and 
amending  government  bills.  The  power  of  re- 
vision was  exercised  from  1896  to  1 901,  and  from 
191 1  to  1916,  with  a  vigilance  that  was  altogether 
lacking  in  the  longer  periods  when  the  majority 
of  the  senate  was  of  the  same  party  as  the  major- 
ity of  the  house  of  commons  and  the  government. 

IX.  Attitude  of  Political  Parties  towards  the  Senate 
Meas-  In  the  years  1 896-1 901,  during  which  the  Liberal 

Lir  °'i      government  was  confronted  with  a  hostile  majority 
goyem-      in  the  senate,  the  senate  rejected   four  or  five 

ment 

rejected  ^  "Sir  John  Macdonald   appointed   John   Macdonald,  of 

Toronto,  to  the  upper  chamber.  But  the  Conservative 
leader  never  found  any  other  Liberal  with  the  necessary 
qualifications  for  a  senatorship.  From  1878  to  1902  no 
Liberal  was  appointed  chairman  of  a  senate  committee.  We 
cannot  trace  to  Liberal  governments —  1 874-1878  and  1896- 
191 1  —  even  one  such  error  as  Sir  John  Macdonald  com- 
mitted."—  Willison,  "Some  Political  Leaders  in  the  Con- 
federation of  Canada,"  50. 

[298] 


PARLIAMENT:    THE  SENATE 

government  bills.  One  was  a  measure  for  extend- 
ing the  Intercolonial  Railway  —  a  government 
undertaking  —  from  Levis  to  Montreal.  Another 
bill,  rejected  in  1897,  would  have  authorized  the 
construction  of  a  government  railway  from  the 
Stickene  River  to  Teslin  Lake  —  a  railway  which 
was  designed  to  form  part  of  the  rail  and  water 
route  to  Dawson  City. 

The   senate   between   191 1   and    1916,  when  a   same 
Conservative    government    was    faced    with     a   '**®  '** 
Liberal  majority,  rejected  six  or  seven  bills,  or  uresof 
so  amended  bills  as  to  make  them  unacceptable   Conserv- 
to  the  house  of  commons  and  the  government,   govem- 
One  of  these  measures  was  a  bill,  passed  by  the   ™®^* 
house  of  commons  in  191 2,  under  which  Canada 
was  to  provide  three  battleships  as  an  addition 
to  the  British  navy.     A  second  bill,  also  in  191 2, 
was  for  the  creation  of  a  permanent  tariff  com- 
mission;   and  a  third,  passed  by  the  house  in 
19 14,  was  to  provide  for  increases  in  the  salaries 
of  railway  mail  clerks. 

With  harmonious  majorities  in  the  senate  and   Eras  of 
house  of  commons,  government  bills   are  never   *^^°°y 
rejected,  or  even  amended  in  any  way  that  is   docuity 
unacceptable  to  the  government.     At  these  times 
there  is  not  a  more  docile  second  chamber  in  the 
English-speaking  world  than  the  senate  at  Ottawa. 

At  these  times  its  sittings  for  public  business   A  "me 
are   not   continuous   from   day   to   day   like   the   ^"  ^ 
sittmgs    of    the    house    of    commons.     Sittmgs   commons 
seldom  extend  beyond  the  dinner  hour;  for  almost 

[299] 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

the  sole  business  of  the  senate  as  regards  gov- 
ernment bills  is  to  say  ditto  to  the  house  of 
commons.^  Only  a  new  government,  which  is 
temporarily  without  a  majority  in  the  senate, 
need  fear  the  power  that  the  senate  can  exercise 
as  a  chamber  of  revision. 
Senators  The  incoming  governments  of  1896  and  191 1 
°®^®^  strongly  objected  to  the  hostility  encountered 
by  some  of  their  bills  in  the  senate.  So  did  the 
supporters  of  these  governments  in  the  house  of 
commons  and  in  the  press.  But  time  is  on  the 
side  of  the  government.^  Senators  never  resign 
except  when,  as  sometimes  happens,  they  are 
appointed  lieutenant-governors  of  provinces.  But 
most  of  them  are  elderly.  Death  or  failure  to 
attend  for  two  consecutive  parliamentary  ses- 
sions creates  on  an  average  five  or  six  vacancies 
a  year. 
Waiting  No  matter  which  political  party  is  in  power, 

^*  there  is  always  a  long  waiting  list  for  appoint- 

ment to  the  senate.  On  the  list  are  names  of  men 
in  the  house  of  commons,  who  are  tired  of  close 
attendance  on  the  house,  with  the  physical  and 
nervous  strain  it  entails,  and  tired  also  of  contested 
elections  and  of  being  at  the  beck  and  call  of 
constituents. 

*  "If  there  be  any  pertinent  criticism  to  be  made  of  the 
senate,  it  is  that  the  chamber  has  fallen  into  a  state  of  desue- 
tude. It  has  become  in  a  way  a  mere  recording  body,  a  'me 
too*  machine.  This  condition  is  far  from  desirable."  — 
Gazette,  Montreal,  May  2,  1917. 

2  Cf.  Riddell,  "  Constitution  of  Canada,"  102. 
[300] 


cent 
demandt 


senate 
refonn 


PARLIAMENT:    THE  SENATE 

Men  are  also  on  the  list  who  have  held  cabinet   Men  on 
office  in  provincial  administrations,  and  who  are   ^^^^^ 
out  of  a  job.     Others  are  owners  or  editors  of  Ust 
newspapers,  who  conceive  that  a  seat  in  the  senate, 
a  salary  of  $2500  a  year,  a  luxurious  clubhouse 
in  Ottawa,  free  of  annual  dues,  and  free  railway 
travel  over  the  Dominion,  would  be  some  return 
for   the    services    they    have    rendered    to   their 
political  party. 

As  vacancies  in  the  senate  occur  or  come  into  Evanes- 
sight,  the  agitation  for  senate  reform,  growing 
out  of  irritation  over  the  rejection  of  the  bills  of  for 
a  new  government,  completely  dies  away.  The 
demand  ceases  to  interest  the  politicians  in  power 
as  the  procession  of  the  government's  nominees 
into  the  senate  increases  in  length.^ 

The  Conservatives  were  in  a  minority  of  forty-  Nature 
three  in  the  senate  in  191 1,  when  the  Borden  ^_®® 
government  was  organized.  New  appointments  cuWes 
by  May,  1914,  had  decreased  the  adverse  majority 
to  six.  "Nature,"  wrote  a  Canadian  chronicler 
of  the  changes  in  the  senate  from  191 1  to  1914, 
"may  be  fairly  depended  upon  to  wipe  out  the 
surplus  of  Liberal  senators  before  next  session;  ^ 
and  then  with  the  Conservatives  in  control,  the 
senate  can  be  counted  quite  a  model  body,  which 
needs  no  change."  ^ 

1  Cf.  Riddell,  "Constitution  of  Canada,"  102-103. 

*  Deaths  of  senators  were  so  frequent  in  the  first  six  years 
of  the  Borden  government  that  by  April,  1917,  the  minority 
of  forty-three  of  191 1  had  become  a  majority  of  eight. 

'  Mercury^  Renfrew,  Ontario,  May  8,  1914. 

C301] 


with  the 
senate 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

And  Is  This    was    the    attitude   of  the    Conservative 

°^^g^  government,  and  its  house  of  commons  supporters, 
toward  senate  reform  after  nature  and  the  govern- 
ment had  adjusted  the  balance  of  power  in  the 
senate.  The  attitude  of  a  Liberal  government  is 
precisely  the  same  when  once  it  is  in  possession 
of  a  majority  in  the  senate.^ 
Senate  The  Liberals  came  into  power  in  1896  after  a 

reform  general  election  in  which  they  had  gone  to  the 
by  liberals  constituencies  on  the  Ottawa  program  of  1893. 
m  power  'pj^g  ^^^  government  chafed  for  four  or  five  years 
under  the  disadvantage  of  an  adverse  majority 
in  the  senate.  But  as  vacancies  occurred  the 
government  filled  them  with  its  nominees;  and 
despite  the  fact  that  the  resolution  of  1893, 
pledging  the  Liberal  party  to  a  reform  of  the 
senate,^  was  submitted  to  the  Ottawa  convention 
by  three  men  who  were  afterwards  of  the  cabinets 
of  1 896-1 91 1,  not  a  word  was  heard  from  the 
government  about  senate  reform  during  the 
fifteen  years  that  the  Liberals  were  in  power.^ 

1  "  Since  advocacy  of  senate  reform  Is  the  strict  and  in- 
alienable prerogative  of  oppositions,  the  senate  as  now  con- 
stituted seems  to  rest  upon  a  reasonably  stable  foundation." 
— Willison,  "Some  Political  Leaders  In  the  Canadian  Federa- 
tion," 51. 

2  Cf.  Official  report  of  the  Liberal   convention,  Ottawa, 

l893»  134- 

2  "Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  one  of  the  planks  of  the 
Liberal  platform  in  1893  was  the  reform  of  the  senate,  during 
the  whole  fifteen  years  the  Liberal  party  were  in  power,  there 
was  no  reform  of  the  senate  other  than  through  the  efforts 

[302] 


PARLIAMENT:    THE  SENATE 

The   senate   has    been   of  some   Httle    service   PubUc 
in  improving  details  of  bills  sent  to  it  from  the   ^^^^^ 

.of  senate 

house  of  commons.  For  five  provinces  also  it 
has  served  as  a  divorce  court.  These  are  its 
public  services. 

Two  distinctly  party  services  have  also  been   its 
rendered   by  the  senate.     Twice   since   1896  its   ^®*^^^^ 
existence   has   made   it   possible   for   a   political   political 
party,  defeated  at  a  general  election,  to  harass   p*^®* 
and  thwart  a  new  government.     Its  existence  also 
has    added    quite    largely    to    the    patronage    of 
governments,  and  has  thus  enabled  governments 
to  keep  in  line  and  under  party  discipline  a  far 
larger  number  of  active  and  office-seeking  parti- 
sans than  is  represented  by  the  actual  number  of 
appointments  made  by  any  government  to  the 
senate. 

The  senate,  chiefly  by  its  failure  to  realize  the   its 
professed   expectations   of  the   Fathers   of  Con-   ^^^^ 
federation,   by  its  failure  to  make  a  beneficent   to 
impression  on  politics  in  Canada,  or  at  any  time   ^^<*«^*s 

'      '        rr  ,        •  •  ,1       ofparUa- 

m  Its  ntty  years  existence  to  convince  the  people   mentary 
of  Canada  that  it  was  of  any  possible  public   ^*^*"- 
usefulness,^  is,  from  the  standpoint  of  students 

of  Divine  Providence.  No  action  along  that  line  was  taken 
by  the  government  or  by  any  member  supporting  the  govern- 
ment, with  the  exception  of  Mr.  Maclntyre."  —  W.  M. 
German,  Liberal  member  from  Ontario,  in  debate  on  constitu- 
tion of  senate,  house  of  commons.  May  7,  1917. 

^  "W,  M.  German's  proposal  in  the  house  of  commons 
today  to  reform  the  senate  by  making  it  elective  instead  of 
selective,  met  with  little  favor.     The  mover  of  the  resolution 

[303] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

of  the  working  of  parliamentary  institutions,  the 
most  interesting  second  chamber  in  the  English- 
speaking  world.  It  is  especially  so,  when  it  is 
kept  in  mind  that  it  represents  the  fourth  attempt 
since  1791  to  establish  a  second  chamber,  modeled 
after  the  house  of  lords,  in  the  portion  of  the 
British  empire  that  is  now  comprised  in  the 
Dominion  of  Canada. 

and  all  others  who  took  part  in  the  debate  paid  tribute  to  the 
personnel  of  the  senate,  past  and  present,  but  regretted  that 
it  had  ceased  to  be  an  active  legislative  body,  and  in  a  measure 
lost  the  confidence  of  the  people."  —  Ottawa  correspondence, 
Gazettey  Montreal,  May  7,  1917. 


[304] 


I 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE     HOUSE     OF     COMMONS 

N  the  first  session  of  the  first  parliament  of  Number 
the   Dominion    there  were    i8i    members  of  °^    ^ 

,  members 

the  house  of  commons.  Ontario  was  represented 
by  82  members;  Quebec  by  65;  Nova  Scotia 
by  19;  and  New  Brunswick  by  15.  After  the 
redistribution  of  representation  in  1914,  the  num- 
ber stood  at  234.^  In  1867,  when  only  four 
provinces  were  in  Confederation,  the  population 
of  the  Dominion  was  3,250,000;  at  the  census 
of  191 1,  on  which  the  redistribution  of  1914 
was  based,  it  was  7,206,000. 

In  the  intervening  forty-four  years  two  of  the 
old  British  North  American  provinces,  British 
Columbia  and  Prince  Edward  Island,  had  come 
into  the  Dominion;  and  parliament  at  Ottawa,  by 
virtue  of  amendments  to  the  constitution  which 
had  increased  its  powers,  had  created  the  prov- 
inces of  Manitoba,  Saskatchewan,  and  Alberta, 
and  had  conferred  on  these  provinces,  and  also 
on  the  Yukon  Territory,  the  right  to  represen- 
tation in  the  house  of  commons. 

^  Cf.  An  act  to  readjust  the  representation  in  the  house 
of  commons,  assented  to  June  12,  1914  —  4-5  George  V., 
c.  SI- 

[  305  ] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF    CANADA 


Appor- 
tionment 
of  repre- 
sentation 


I.  The  Distribution  of  Representation 

These  additions  to  the  membership  of  the  house 
were  made  in  strict  accordance  with  section  51 
of  the  British  North  America  act,  the  section 
which  defines  the  powers  of  parliament  in  the 
apportionment  of  representation  among  the  sev- 
eral provinces. 

Section  51 — a  disturbing  section  since  1903 
to  the  older  provinces,  which,  under  its  strict  pro- 
visions, must  submit  to  reductions  in  their  repre- 
sentation —  reads  as  follows : 

On  the  completion  of  the  census  in  1871,  and  on  each 
subsequent  decennial  census,  the  representation  of  the 
four  provinces  shall  be  readjusted  by  such  authority,  in 
such  a  manner,  and  from  such  time,  as  the  parliament 
of  Canada  shall  from  time  to  time  provide,  subject  and 
according  to  the  following  rules: 

(i)  Quebec  shall  have  the  fixed  number  of  65 
members. 

(2)  There  shall  be  assigned  to  each  of  the  other  prov- 
inces such  a  number  of  members  as  will  bear  the  same 
proportion  to  the  number  of  its  population  (ascertained 
at  such  census)  as  the  number  65  bears  to  the  number 
of  the  population  of  Quebec  (so  ascertained). 

(3)  In  the  computation  of  the  number  of  members 
for  a  province,  a  fractional  part,  not  exceeding  one  half 
of  the  whole  number  requisite  for  entitling  the  province 
to  a  member  shall  be  disregarded;  but  a  fractional  part 
exceeding  one  half  of  that  number  shall  be  equivalent 
to  the  whole  number. 

(4)  On  any  such  readjustment,  the  number  of  mem- 
bers for  a  province  shall  not  be  reduced  unless  the  pro- 
portion which  the  number  of  the  population  of  the  prov- 
ince bore  to  the  number  of  the  aggregate  population  of 

[306] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

Canada  at  the  then  last  preceding  readjustment  of  the 
number  of  members  for  the  province  is  ascertained 
at  the  then  latest  census  to  be  diminished  by  one 
twentieth  part  or  upwards. 

(5)  Such    readjustment  shall    not    take  effect    until 
the  termination  of  the  then  existing  parliament. 

At  each  decennial  redistribution  of  represen-   Losses 
tation,   parliament  when  it  enters  on  this  task   ^  ^ 
is  confronted  with  these  provisions  of  the  con-   butioa 
stitution;  and  when,  as  in  1903  and  again  in  1914, 
the  older  and  more  settled  provinces  of  Ontario, 
Nova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick,  and  Prince  Edward 
Island  know,  from  the  census  returns,  that  they 
are   to   lose   some   part   of  their   representation, 
there  is  a  reminder  from  the  minister  who  intro- 
duces the  redistribution  bill  that  no  blame  can 
rest  on  parliament  for  the  losses  that  provinces 
must  undergo. 

II.  Quebec  the  Pivotal  Province 

"We  have,"  said  Laurier,  premier  of  the  Liberal    Pariia- 
administrations    of    1896-1911,    when    he    intro 
duced  the  bill  of  1903,  "only  to  take  the  pro-   in 
visions  of  section    a    of  the   constitution,   and    ®°f_*=*^ 
the  figures  of  the  census,   and   find   the   result,    tributton 
In  this  matter  parliament  is  not  a  free  agent. 
It  has  no   discretion   to   exercise.     It  is   simply 
the    instrument    and    creature    of   the    law.     In 
this   particular   bill   we   have   only   to   take   the 
result  of  the  census  of  1901,  and  make  the  redis- 
tribution accordingly.     We  give  to  each  province 

[307] 


ment 
not  free 


bUls 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

the  number  to  which  it  is  entitled,  some  having  less, 

some  more,  but  all  being  bound  by  the  same  rule."  ^ 

Quebec         Quebec  is  the  only  province  which   can  look 

quota        Qj^  without  direct  concern  when  a  redistribution 

unalter- 
able bill  is  before  the  house  of  commons.     Increased 

representation  for  the  new  provinces,  and  for 
British  Columbia,  the  four  provinces  which, 
after  1900,  attracted  much  of  the  stream  of  im- 
migration, may  lessen  the  influence  and  weight  of 
the  French  province  at  Ottawa.  But  no  matter 
what  the  census  returns  may  show,  Quebec's 
quota  of  sixty-five  remains  unalterable,  unless 
there  is  an  amendment  to  section  51  —  an  amend- 
ment of  which  during  the  first  half-century  of 
Confederation  there  was  not  even  a  hint  at  Ottawa. 
Unit  of  In  the  redistribution  of  representation  Quebec 

is  thus  the  pivotal  province.  "Taking  the  popu- 
lation of  Quebec  at  2,003,232,"  said  Borden, 
premier  of  the  Conservative  government  that 
was  responsible  for  the  redistribution  bill  of 
1914,  "and  dividing  it  by  65,  we  obtain  the  unit 
of  30,819.  Applying  this  unit  to  the  popu- 
lation of  the  various  provinces,  we  find  that 
Alberta  is  entitled  to  a  membership  of  12.12  — 
the  decimal  is  disregarded,  and  Alberta  receives 
a  membership  of  12.  In  the  case  of  British 
Columbia,  the  number  is  12.70.  The  decimal 
being  in  excess  of  five,  British  Columbia  receives 
a  membership  of  13."  ^ 

1  H,  C.  Debates,  March  31,  1903. 

2  Ibid.,  February  10,  19 14. 

C308] 


repre- 
sentation 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

The  territories  west  of  the  Great  Lakes  came   Changes 
into    the    pariiamentary    representation    at    the   ^ 
redistribution    of    1892.     Four    members    were   sentatioa 
then  assigned  to  what  were  called  the  northwest   ^^ 
territories.     It  was  1905  before  portions  of  these 
territories   were   organized    as   the   provinces   of 
Saskatchewan    and    Alberta.     The    changes    in 
the    representation    brought    about    since    1892 
by   the  operation   of  section   51    of  the   British 
North  America  act,  and  by  the  amendments  made 
to  it  at  Westminster  in  1871  and  1886,  are  recorded 
in  the  accompanying  table: 


Province 

1892 

1903 

190S 

1914 

Ontario 

65 
20 
14 

I 

5 
4 

86 

6S 
18 

13 
10 

7 

4 

10 

I 

86 

65 

.    18 

13 
10 

7 
4 

I 

7 
10 

82 

Quebec 

^1 
16 

Nova  Scotia 

New  Brunswick 

II 

Manitoba                            

IS 

13 

3 

British  Columbia               ... 

Prince  Edward  Island         .... 

Northwest  Territories   

Yukon 

I 

Alberta 

12 

Saskatchewan                  

16 

Totals 

213 

214 

221 

234 

The  Dominion  parliament  has  left  to  the  pro-  Electoral 

vincial    legislatures    the    determination    of    the  *'^" 

franchises   on   which   members   of  the   house   of  deter- 

commons  shall  be  elected.     This  is  in  accordance  mined  by 

with  the  federal  principle  —  the  principle  which  vindai 

from  the  first  has  prevailed  in  the  United  States.  ^®8is- 
To  the  state  legislatures  also  has  been  assigned, 

C309] 


by  parlia- 
ment 


redis- 
tributions 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

from    the   first,   the  division  of  the  states  into 

congressional  districts. 

Electoral        Canada  has  not  followed  the  example  of  the 

deTer-"^^     United  States  in  the  redistribution  of  representa- 

mined       tion.     It    has    never    permitted    the    provincial 

legislatures  to  map  out  the  electoral  divisions  or 

constituencies  from  which  representatives  of  the 

province  are  elected  to  the  house  of  commons. 

III.  The  Era  of  the  Gerrymander 

Partisan  The  first  three  redistributions  of  representation 
—  those  of  1872,  1883,  and  1892  —  were  made 
by  Conservative  governments,  and  in  the  re-ar- 
rangement of  the  constituencies  in  1882  and  1892 
the  Liberal  minorities  in  the  house  of  commons 
were  not  permitted  any  part.  The  Liberal 
opposition,  led  in  1882  by  Edward  Blake  and  in 
1892  by  Wilfred  Laurier,  had  no  more  say  in  the 
redistricting  of  the  provinces  than  they  had  in 
the  redistribution  of  seats  at  Westminster  which 
accompanied  the  extension  of  the  parliamentary 
franchise  in  the  United  Kingdom  in  1884. 

Redis-  The  bill  of  1882,   allotting  each   province  its 

quota  of  members,  was  introduced  in  the  house 
of  commons.     As  part  of  the  bill  there  was   a 

privUege     schedule  of  the  electoral  divisions  in  each  prov- 

01  party        ,  ,   .  '^ 

in  power  ince.  It  was  useless  for  the  opposition  to  take 
a  map,  as  they  could  have  done,  and  show  how 
glaringly  some  constituencies  had  been  gerry- 
mandered in  the  interest  of  the  Conservative 
party.  The  decennial  redistribution  of  repre- 
C310] 


tribution 
regarded 
as 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

sentation  was  regarded  in  those  days  as  offering 
an  opportunity  to  advance  the  interests  of  the 
poHtical  party  that  was  in  power. 

During  the  Conservative  regime  of  1 878-1 896 
there  was  no  pretense  to  fairness  in  the  readjust- 
ment of  the  parHamentary  constituencies.  The 
phrase,  long  in  use  in  Dominion  politics,  "hiving 
the  grits,"  had  its  origin  in  those  years.  It 
described  the  throwing  together  of  communities 
that  were  predominantly  Liberal,  without  heed 
to  county  boundaries,  to  make  other  constituen- 
cies safely  Conservative.  Gerrymandering  began 
in  1872.  It  was  particularly  rampant  at  the 
redistributions  of  1882  and  1892.^ 

At  no  time  in  the  first  fifty  years  of  Confeder-  Party 
ation  was  party  bitterness  more  marked  than 
in  the  years  from  1878  to  1896.  Much  of  the 
bitterness,  a  bitterness  which  characterized  de- 
bates in  the  house  of  commons,  and  political 
discussions  on  the  platform  and  in  the  press, 
grew  out  of  the  gerrymanders.  It  was  partly 
attributable  to  other  partisan  legislation  affect- 
ing elections  by  the  Conservative  government. 
It  was  partly  attributable  to  a  manipulation  of 
electoral  franchises  in  1885,  which  was  not  cor- 
rected until  1898,  when  a  Liberal  government 
repealed   the   act   of    1885    and   established    the 

1  "Gerrymandering  is  a  Yankee  institution,  a  Yankee  in- 
vention which  the  National  Policy  —  the  policy  of  a  high 
tariff —  does  not  keep  out  of  Canada."  —  Sir  William  Mulock, 
Ottawa  Liberal  convention,  June  21,  1893. 

[311] 


bitter- 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

principle  that  under  the  federal  system  the  elec- 
toral franchises  must  be  determined,  not  by  the 
federal  parliament,  but  by  the  legislatures  of  the 
provinces. 
Liberals         The  Liberals  persistently  denounced  the  gerry- 
^™'         manders  when  the  bills  of  1872,  1882,  and  1892 
to  non-      were  before  parliament.     They  were  denounced 
J^J^     also  at  the  general  elections  of  1882,  1887,  and 
tribution     1891;    and  in   1893,   when   the   Liberal   national 
convention  was  held  at  Ottawa,  a  resolution  was 
adopted  that  committed  the  Liberal  party  to  a 
reform  in  the  method  of  redistributing  the  prov- 
inces for  representation  in  the  house  of  commons. 
"To  put  an  end  to  this  abuse,  to  make  the  house 
of  commons  a  fair  exponent  of  public  opinion, 
and  to  preserve  the  historic   continuity  of  coun- 
ties," continued  the  resolution,  "it  is  desirable 
that    in    the    formation    of    electoral    divisions, 
county  boundaries  should  be  preserved,  and  that 
in  no  case  should  parts  of  different  counties  be 
put  in  one  electoral  division."  ^ 

IV.  The  Reform  of  igoj 

Liberals         At  the  general  election  in   1896  the  Liberals 
^^       were  returned  to  power.     In  1903,  for  the  first 
their         time  in  the  history  of  the  Dominion,  a  Liberal 
*       government    was    responsible    for    framing    and 
carrying  through  parliament  a  bill  for  a  redis- 
tribution of  the  representation.    The  government 

*  OflScial  Report,  Ottawa  Liberal  convention,  129. 
[312] 


THE   HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 


availed  itself  to  the  full  of  the  opportunity  to 
fulfill  the  pledge  made  in  the  years  when  the 
Liberals  were  in  opposition. 

We  on  this  side  of  the  house  —  said  Laurier,  when  he  intro- 
duced the  bill  in  the  house  of  commons  —  have  always  com- 
plained that  in  previous  redistributions  the  opposition  was 
unfairly  treated.  In  1892  we  proposed  a  conference  over  the 
bill  —  a  conference  at  which  there  should  be  representation  of 
both  political  parties.  But  though  our  proposition  was  not 
accepted,  we  do  not  intend  to  depart  from  the  principle  which 
we  then  laid  down.  What  we  claimed  for  ourselves  when  we 
were  in  a  minority,  we  are  now  ready  to  grant  to  our  opponents 
when  they  are  in  a  minority. 

There  is  no  schedule  to  this  bill.  If  this  bill  is  accepted  by 
our  friends  on  the  other  side  of  the  house,  we  intend,  after  it 
has  been  debated,  and  read  a  second  time,  to  refer  it  to  a  special 
committee  composed  of  seven  members,  on  which  the  opposition 
will  be  represented  by  three,  to  be  selected  by  themselves. 
We  propose  to  invite  our  friends  now  sitting  on  the  opposition 
benches  to  meet  us  in  the  committee  room,  and  there  discuss 
with  us  the  division  of  the  constituencies  which  shall  be 
empowered  to  elect    the  members  of  this  house.^ 

The  complete  fulfillment  by  the  Liberal  govern- 
ment in  1903  of  a  pledge  which  had  been  given 
by  the  Liberal  party  when  it  was  in  opposition, 
ended  permanently,  it  would  seem,  the  scandals 
of  the  gerrymander.  The  Conservatives  were 
in  opposition  from  1896  to  191 1.  But  from  1903 
to  191 1  they  had  no  grievance  with  regard  to 
the  arrangement  of  electoral  divisions;  and  in 
1 9 14,    when    a    Conservative    government    was 


Partisan 
redis- 
tributions 
recalled 


Electoral 

map 

arranged 

by 

confer- 


Conserv^ 
atlves 
In  1914 

also 
adopt 
confer- 
ence 
plan 


*  H.  C.  Debates,  March  31,  1903. 


C313] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

responsible  for  a  redistribution  bill,  the  precedent 
of  1903  was  followed  in  all  details. 

The  bill  was  introduced  by  Borden.  Again  no 
schedule  was  attached;  and  after  the  bill  had 
been  read  a  second  time,  the  readjustment  of 
the  electoral  divisions  was  relegated  to  a  special 
committee  on  which  were  four  representatives 
of  the  majority  in  the  house  of  commons  and 
three  of  the  Liberal  opposition.* 


No  equal 
electoral 
divi- 
sions 


Larger 
units  for 
urban 
divisions 


V.     Inequalities  in  Electoral  Divisions 

Equal  electoral  divisions  have  never  been 
attempted  by  either  Conservative  or  Liberal 
governments.  Favorable  treatment  has  always 
been  accorded  to  the  rural  divisions.  Under  the 
apportionment  of  1903,  Soulanges,  a  rural  division 
of  Quebec,  with  a  population  of  9400,  had  one 
member  of  the  house  of  commons,  and  there  was 
only  one  for  Maisonneuve,  a  manufacturing  and 
residential  suburb  of  Montreal,  which  according 
to  the  census  of  1901  had  a  population  of  170,987. 
Lisgar,  a  rural  division  of  Manitoba,  had  a  popu- 
lation of  23,501.  In  Winnipeg,  which,  like 
Lisgar,  had  then  one  member,  the  population 
was    128,157.2 

Both  political  parties  accept  the  principle  of 
a  larger  unit  for  urban  than  for  rural  constituen- 
cies.    Borden    recalled    this    fact   when    he   was 


*  Cf.  H.  C.  Debates,  February  10,  1914. 
2  Ibid.,  February  10,  19 14. 


[314] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

piloting  the   redistribution  act  of  191 4  through 
the  house  of  commons. 

It  is  said  —  the  premier  reminded  the  house  —  that  in  a 
city  there  ought  to  be  a  higher  unit,  for  the  reason  that  a  city- 
possesses  greater  solidarity  and  compactness.  Its  interests 
are  more  uniform,  and  they  can  make  themselves  felt  more 
effectually  and  cogently  than  the  interests  of  a  rural  constit- 
uency. It  is  said  also  that  many  men  who  represent  rural 
constituencies  reside  in  the  cities,  and  in  that  way  the  cities 
have  a  certain  voice  in  the  legislature  which  is  denied  to  rural 
constituencies. 

Importance  also  has  been  laid  by  some  members  of  this    Corn- 
house  upon  the  argument  that  there  is  perhaps  a  more  stable    ^^^ 
interest  in  those  who  dwell  upon  the  land  than  is  to  be  found 
in  the  case  of  a  certain  floating  element  of  city  population,    and 
Finally    there    is    the    English    principle    of   community    of    historic 
interest,  compactness  and  historic  association  —  a  principle 
that   is  always   regarded   in    British   redistribution    bills. ^ 


of 
interest 


clations 


These  arguments  in  favor  of  a  smaller  unit 
of  population  for  rural  than  for  urban  constit- 
uencies were  accepted  and  indorsed  by  Laurier. 

Without  going  into  all  the  reasons  —  he  said  —  there  is    Large 
one  supreme  reason.     It  is  that  in  a  country  like  Canada,    '""'^ 
where  there  is  a  very  large  territory  with  a  sparse  popu-     . 
lation,  if  you  give  the  same  unit  of  population  to  cities  and 
counties,  in  rural  constituencies  you  would  have  such  a  large 
area  of  territory  as  to  be  almost  impossible  to  cover.    That  is 
quite  sufficient  to  justify  the  principle  which  has  been  adopted 
on  every  occasion  on  which  we  have  had   a  redistribution. 

Unlike  the  older  universities  of  England,  Ireland,  and 
Scotland,  none  of  the  fourteen  universities  of  Canada  elects 
a  member  to  the  house  of  commons.  It  was  intended  by  the 
legislature  of  Upper  Canada  that  there  should  be  a  university 

*  H.  C.  Debates,  Februaiy  lo,  1914. 

C315] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

constituency  in  that  province.  An  act  was  passed  in  1820 
(Geo.  Ill,  c.  II  §  IV,  St.  of  Upper  Canada)  by  which  it  was 
provided  "that  whenever  an  university  shall  be  organized, 
and  in  operation  as  a  seminary  of  learning  in  this  province, 
and  in  conformity  to  the  rules  and  statutes  of  similar  insti- 
tutions in  Great  Britain,  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  the 
governor  to  declare  by  proclamation  the  tract  of  land  ap- 
pendant to  such  university,  and  whereupon  the  same  is 
situated,  to  be  a  town  or  township,  and  that  such  town  or 
township  so  constituted,  shall  be  represented  by  one  member." 
"No  person,"  continues  the  section,  "shall  be  permitted 
to  vote  at  any  such  election  for  a  member  to  represent  the 
said  university  in  parliament,  who  besides  the  qualification 
now  by  law  required  shall  not  also  be  entitled  to  vote  in  the 
convocation  of  the  said  university."  There  was,  however, 
no  election  of  a  member  for  the  university  between  1820 
and  the  union  of  Upper  and  Lower  Canada  in  1840.  At 
the  union  of  the  provinces  there  was  no  mention  of  univer- 
sity representation,  and  no  suggestion  of  it  at  Confederation.^ 

Single-  With   only  three  or  four  exceptions,   all   the 

wSt-^     234   electoral   divisions   are   single-member   con- 
uencies      stituencies.     Divisions  of  counties  are  known  as 
"ridings,"  a  term  that  has  been  in  use  in  British 
parliamentary    geography    at    least    since    1821, 
when  the  right  to  elect  two  members  was  trans- 
ferred from  the  long  notoriously  corrupt  borough 
of  Grampound  to  the  West  Riding  of  Yorkshire. 
Constit-         The  term  "division"  is  applied  only  in  cities 
uencies      j^^  Canada  which  return  three  or  more  members. 

aistin- 

guished      Electoral  divisions  are  not  numbered,  as  in  the 

byname     Uj^i^gj    States.     Geographical    names    are    used, 

such   as  Toronto  East,  or  Toronto  West;    and 

1  H.  C.  Debates,  February  17,  1914. 

C316] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

such  names  as  Algoma,  Frontenac,  Two  Moun- 
tains, Antigonish,  Pontiac,  and  Yale  Caribou 
are  given  the  ridings  of  counties. 

As  a  member  of  the  house  of  commons  must   "The 
never  be  mentioned  in  debate  by  name,  but  always   ^^^' 
referred  to  as  the   honorable  member  for   Pon-  member 
tiac  or  whatever  consituency  he  represents,  both    °^~ 
a  new  and  an  old  world  flavor  is  imparted  to  de- 
bates by  giving  names  instead  of  numbers  to  all 
the  constituencies  that  elect  members  to  Ottawa. 


VI.  Unsuccessful    Experiment    with    a    Uniform 
Dominion  Franchise 

At  Confederation  a  large  measure  of  freedom  Elections 

was  conferred  on   the  Dominion   parliament   in  ^^  ^ 

regard  to  the  franchises  on  which  the  house  of  1882 

commons  at  Ottawa  is  elected.     By  section  41  °^q^^_ 

of  the  British  North  America  act,  it  was  provided  ciai 

that  until  the  parliament  of  Canada  otherwise  ^ 
decided  the  electoral  laws  of  the  provinces  should 
apply  to  the  election  of  members  of  the  house 
of  commons. 

The  year  of  the  passage  of  the  British  North  influence 

America  act  was  the  year  in  which,  for  the  first  British 

time  in  modern  history,  all  male  householders  in  refonn 

parliamentary  boroughs  in  the  United  Kingdom  J^7°on 

were  enfranchised.     It  was  a  great  step  towards  electoral 

democracy    when    the    British    electoral    law    of  ^*^    ® 
1867  was  enacted;    and  there  is  some  reflection 
of  the  new  democratic  spirit  in  the  section  of  the 

C317] 


EVOLUTION    OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

British  North  America  act  which  was  apphcable 
to  Algoma. 
House-  Algoma  is  today  included  in  the  province  of 

^°sr   e     C)ntario.     In  1867  it  was  a  territory;    but  it  was 
in  Algoma  then  contemplated  that  it  would  have  represen- 
tation in  the  house  of  commons  at  Ottawa;    and 
by  section  41  of  the  act  it  was  decreed  that  until 
the   parliament   of  Canada   otherwise   provided, 
at  any  election  for  a  member  of  the  house  of 
commons   from   Algoma,   in  addition   to   persons 
qualified  by  the  law  of  the  United  Provinces  of 
Ontario  and  Quebec  to  vote,  "every  male  British 
subject,     aged    twenty-one    years    or    upwards, 
being  a  householder,  shall  have  a  vote." 
Conserv-        At    five    general    elections    after    the    British 
atives        North  America  act  had  come  into  operation  — 

agitate  ^ 

for  m  1867,  1872,  1874,  1878,  and  1882  —  members 

^^^      of  the  house  of  commons  were  chosen  on  franchises 

franchise 

which  had  been  determined  by  the  provincial 
legislatures.  They  were  elected  on  the  same 
franchise  as  members  of  the  legislature. 

With  the  exception  of  the  election  of  1874, 
at  each  of  these  general  elections  the  Conservative 
party  was  returned  to  power.  Macdonald  was 
premier  of  all  these  Conservative  governments; 
and  Macdonald,  and  a  group  of  Conservative 
members,  of  extreme  Tory  politics,  who  were 
closely  associated  with  him,  never  liked  the  federal 
principle  applied  to  electoral  franchises. 

Macdonald,  in  the  first  session  of  the  first 
parliament  of  the  Dominion,  assailed  this  prin- 

C318] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

ciple;   and  between  1867  and  1885  he  introduced   Federal 
no  fewer  than  six  or  seven  bills  with  the  object   ^^® 
of  transferring   from   the   provincial   legislatures   1898 
to  parliament  the  determination  of  the  franchise 
for  elections  to  the  house  of  commons.     But  the 
Liberal    opposition    stood    out    for    the    federal 
principle,  and  Macdonald  could  not  persuade  all 
his  Conservative  supporters  to  vote  with  him. 
It  was  1885  before  he  succeeded  in  carrying  the 
Dominion  franchise  bill  through  parliament. 

Under  this  law  of  1885,  a  uniform  franchise  Eight 
was  established  in  all  the  provinces.  The  right  ^*^^*^^ 
to  vote  was  given  in  respect  of  eight  qualifications,  franchise 
These  were  (i)  owners  and  occupiers  of  real  estate 
of  the  value  of  $300  in  a  city,  and  $200  in  a  town; 
(2)  persons  in  receipt  of  incomes,  or  yearly 
earnings  of  at  least  ^300  from  some  profession, 
office,  trade,  or  investment  in  Canada;  (3)  life 
annuitants  of  $100  a  year;  (4)  farmers'  sons, 
living  at  home;  (5)  sons  of  owners  of  real  property; 
(6)  tenants  of  real  property  paying  more  than 
$2  a  month  rental;  (7)  fishermen  owning  boats, 
nets,  fishing  gear,  or  shares  in  a  registered  ship 
to  the  actual  value  of  at  least  $150;  and  (8) 
Indians  in  possession  and  occupation  of  distinct 
tracts  of  land  in  an  Indian  reserve,  the  improve- 
ments on  which  were  valued  at  not  less  than 
$150. 

The  act  created  a  wide  franchise,  but  it  was   Property 
a  franchise  based  on  property.     It  was  thus  in 
accordance  with  the  principles  then  held  both  by   vote 

[319] 


as  basis 
for 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION    OF   CANADA 

the  Conservative  party  in  England  and  by  the 
Conservative  party  in  Canada.  It  was  con- 
trary to  the  principles  of  the  Liberal  party  in 
Canada,  which  as  regards  the  franchise  had 
outrun  the  Liberal  party  in  England  and  Scot- 
land; for  it  was  committed  to  the  principle  of 
manhood  suffrage,  a  principle  that  by  1885  the 
Liberals  in  Ontario  and  in  other  provinces  had 
already  carried  into  law. 
Argu-  Macdonald's  case  for  substituting  a  Dominion 

™®^*         franchise  for  the  provincial  franchises  of  1867- 
federai       1 885   was   that   the   old   plan   was   an    anomaly, 
franchise    <q^  j^  ^^j^^  contrary,"  he  said,  "to  first  principles. 
The  representatives  of  the  people  in  parliament, 
representing   the    people   in    a    Dominion    sense, 
must   have,   and   ought   to   have,   control   of  all 
reforms  and  changes  in  the  representation." 
civU  In  some  of  the  provinces,  notably  in  the  Mari- 

se^ts     ^-        Provinces,  which  are  served  by  the  Inter- 

and  the  ,  .       '  -^ 

franchise  colonial  Railway  —  the  government  railway  — 
the  legislatures  had  excluded  men  on  the  pay  roll 
of  the  Dominion  government  from  the  franchise. 
Macdonald  had  these  exclusions  in  mind  when  he 
submitted  his  case  for  the  Dominion  franchise 
to  the  house  of  commons.  "It  is  out  of  the 
question,"  he  said,  "that  we  here,  representing 
the  people  of  the  Dominion  as  a  whole,  should 
find  ourselves,  for  local  reasons  or  local  purposes, 
in  any  given  province,  actually  deprived  of  people 
who  would  elect  us."  ^ 

1  H.  C.  Debates,  April  16,  1885. 
[320] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

Ostensibly  uniformity  and  the  estopping  of  More 
provincial  legislatures  from  excluding  civil  serv-  ^^°^' 
ants  of  the  Dominion  from  the  franchise  were 
the  grounds  on  which  the  act  of  1885  was  based. 
Another  reason  for  it  undoubtedly  was  the  fact 
that  the  act  placed  the  compiling  of  the  electoral 
lists  in  the  hands  of  nominees  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  also  added  largely  to  the  patronage  of 
the  government. 

It  was  provided  by  the  act  that  there  should   Revision 
be   a   revision   of  the   electoral   rolls   each   year.   °J 

rr>i        r  ...  ^  .,     ,  ..  electoral 

The  first  revision  in  1886  entailed  an  expenditure  rolls 
of  over  $400,000.  The  government  was  afraid 
to  ask  parliament  for  annual  appropriations  on 
this  scale.  It  therefore  carried  through  parlia- 
ment bills  suspending  the  sections  of  the  act  of 
1885  which  made  annual  revisions  of  the  electoral 
rolls  mandatory;  and  although  the  law  was  on 
the  statute  book  from  1885  to  1898,  there  were 
only  three  revisions  of  the  rolls. 

There  were  seven  provinces  in  1885.  In  five  Manhood 
of  them  —  British  Columbia,  Manitoba,  Ontario,  «^^^« 
New  Brunswick,  and  Prince  Edward  Island  — 
manhood  suffrage  had  been  established  by  act 
of  the  legislature.  In  Quebec  and  Nova  Scotia 
the  franchises  were  based  on  property  —  on 
qualifications  not  much  unlike  those  of  the  Do- 
minion franchise  of  1885. 

In   all   the   provinces  the   Dominion   act  was   Opposi- 
condemned    as    a    departure    from    the    federal  ^°° 
principle.     By    the   Liberal    party    it   was    also  franchise 

C321] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

condemned  because  it  was  opposed  to  Liberal 
principles,  and  because  of  the  jobbery  and  manoeu- 
vering  in  the  interest  of  the  Conservative  party 
which  it  made  possible. 
Liberals  The  Liberals  from  1885  to  1896  denounced  the 
pledge       Dominion  franchise  act  —  in  parliament,  on  the 

them-  .  ^ 

selves  platform,  and  in  the  press—  as  strongly  and 
to  repeal  persistently  as  they  denounced  the  gerrymandering 
1885  of  electoral  divisions  by  the  redistribution  acts 
of  1872,  1882,  and  1892.  At  the  national  con- 
vention of  1893 — the  only  national  convention 
of  the  Liberal  party  in  the  first  fifty  years  of 
Confederation  —  the  party  committed  itself  to 
the  repeal  of  the  act  of  1885. 

It  pledged  itself  to  repeal  on  these  grounds: 

That  the  act  since  1885  had  cost  the  Dominion  treas- 
ury over  a  million  dollars,  besides  entaiHng  heavy  ex- 
penditures on  both  political  parties. 

That  the  heavy  cost  had  prevented  annual  revisions 
of  the  electoral  rolls,  as  originally  intended;  and  in  the 
absence  of  such  revisions,  young  voters,  entitled  to  the 
franchise,  had  in  numerous  instances  been  prevented  from 
exercising  their  natural  rights. 

That  the  act  had  failed  to  secure  uniformity,  which 
was  the  principal  reason  assigned  for  its  introduction. 

That  it  had  produced  gross  abuses  by  partisan  revis- 
ing barristers  appointed  by  the  government;   and 

That  its  provisions  were  less  liberal  than  those  already 
existing  in  many  provinces  of  the  Dominion.^ 

1  Official  Report,  Liberal  convention,  1893,  122. 


C322] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 


VII.  The  Return  to  Provincial  Franchises 

Two  years  after  the  Liberal  government  came   Rever- 
into  power  it  implemented  this  pledge  of  1893; 
and  since  1898  members  of  the  house  of  commons   ciai 

fran- 
chises 


slon  to 
provin- 


have  again,  as  from  1867  to  1885,  been  elected 
on  the  same  franchises  as  members  of  the  pro- 
vincial legislatures.  "The  qualifications  neces- 
sary to  entitle  any  person  to  vote  at  a  Dominion 
election  in  any  province,"  reads  a  section  of  the 
election  code,  as  it  was  enacted  in  1898,  "shall 
be  those  established  by  the  laws  of  that  province 
as  necessary  to  entitle  such  person  to  vote  in  the 
same  part  of  the  province  at  a  provincial  election." 

The  objection  that  Macdonald  made  in   1885    safe- 
to  the  electoral  laws  of  the  provinces  —  the  objec-   ^^^^ 
tion  that  in  some  of  the  provinces  employees  of   chise 
the  Dominion  government  were  denied  exercise   °^ 
of  the   franchise  —  was   not   overlooked    at   the   servants 
remodeling   of   the    electoral    code    in    1898.     A 
section  was  embodied  in  the  act  which  provides 
that  no  person,  otherwise  qualified  as  an  elector, 
shall  be  disqualified  from  voting  at  a  Dominion 
election  because  he  is  employed  in  any  capacity 
in  the  public  service  of  Canada  or  of  a  province. 

Only  the   strong  and    forceful   personality   of  Conserv- 
Macdonald,   and   the  whip   hand   he   constantly   ^^^l\ 
kept  of  his  followers  in  the  house  of  commons,    reform 
enabled  the  Conservative  government  to  carry 
the    Dominion    franchise    act   of   1885.     It   was 
greatly  disliked  by  quite  a  number  of  Conserv- 

[323] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

atives  in  parliament  and  in  the  constituencies. 

In  1898,  when  the  law  was  repealed,  there  were 

no  expressions  of  regret,  and  no  protests  from  the 

Conservative  benches. 
Electoral        Fot  six  years  after  191 1  a  Conservative  govern- 
reforms      r^ent  was  again  in  power.     It  did  not  revert  to 

of  Liberal  ^  ... 

govern-  the  old  system;  and  redistribution  of  seats  effected 
°^®^*  by  conference  between  the  representatives  of 
both  political  parties  at  Ottawa,  and  provincial 
electoral  franchises  as  the  franchises  on  which 
members  of  the  house  are  elected,  would  now 
seem  to  have  become  permanently  established 
as  usage  and  law.^      Credit  for  both  these  demo- 

^  During  the  parliamentary  session  of  1917  a  war-time 
elections  act  was  passed.  It  enfranchised  the  wives,  widows, 
mothers,  and  sisters  of  Canadian  soldiers  and  sailors,  who  had 
gone  overseas  to  serve  with  the  British  military  and  naval 
forces;  disqualified  British  subjects  "of  alien  enemy  birth, 
or  of  other  European  birth,  or  of  alien  enemy  mother-tongue 
or  native  language,"  who  had  been  naturalized  later  than 
March  31,  1902;  and  also  disquaUfied  men  who  had  been 
exempted  from  military  service,  or  had  applied  for  exemption 
from  the  operation  of  the  conscription  act  of  1917,  on  the 
ground  that  they  had  conscientious  objections  to  serving  with 
military  forces.  "Its  provisions,"  said  Meighen,  secretary 
of  state,  in  introducing  the  bill  in  the  house  of  commons, 
are  to  operate  only  during  the  period  of  the  present  war  and 
of  demobilization  thereafter.  That  is  to  say,  so  far  as  the 
bill  amends  the  Dominion  elections  act,  it  amends  it  only 
to  cover  the  now  apparently  certain  event  of  an  election 
during  the  war  or  before  demobilization.  After  that  the  bill 
ceases  to  affect  the  Dominion  elections  act;  the  general  law 
becomes  the  same  as  it  was  before,  the  same  as  it  is  today." 
—  H.  C.  Debates,  September  6,  1917. 

[324] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

cratic  reforms  must  be  given  to  the  Liberal  govern- 
ment of  which  Laurier  was  premier. 

The  general  requisites  for  voting  at  Dominion    Quaim- 
elections  are  that  a  man  shall  be  a  native-born   ^**^*^ 
Canadian,  or  a  subject  of  the  king  by  birth  or   electors 
naturalization;    that  he  shall  be  of  the  full  age 
of  twenty-one;    and  not  disqualified   by  reason 
of  insanity  or  by  conviction  of  crime. 

Manhood  suffrage  has  been  long  established  in    Manhood 
all  the  provinces  except  Nova  Scotia  and  Quebec.   ^^"^^ 
The   residential    qualification    in   the   manhood-  provinces 
suffrage    provinces   varies    from    six   months    in 
Manitoba,  to  a  year  in  British  Columbia.     Resi- 
dence in  the  electoral  division  varies  from  one 
month  in  Manitoba,  to  nine  months  in  Ontario 
—  nine  months  before  the  time  fixed  by  law  for 
the  opening  of  registration. 

In  Nova  Scotia,  where  representative  govern-   Property 
ment  has   been   established   longer  than   in   any   ^^^" 
other  outlying  part  of  the   British  Empire,  the   in  Nova 
vote  is  based  on  real  or  personal  property,  or  the    ^^^ 
occupation  of  real  estate.     Nova  Scotia  has  clung 
with  tenacity  to    the  ancient  English   principle 
in  regard  to  the  franchise.     One  qualification  is 
assessment  of  real  property  valued   at  $150  or 
over,  or  of  personal  property  or  real  and  personal 
property  together  valued  at  $300.     Men  with  an 
income  of  $250  a  year  are  entitled  to  vote;   so  are 
fishermen,  with  boats  and  gear  and  real  estate 
assessed  at  an  actual  value  of  $150,  provided  that 
such   property  is  within   the   county  where  the 

C325] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Property 

and 

Income 

qiuilifi- 

catlons 

in 

Quebec 


Votes  of 

members 

of 

teaching 

orders 


Fishing- 
gear 
qualifi- 
cation 
for 
franchise 


vote  is  given.  Yearly  tenants  of  real  estate, 
which  is  assessed  at  $150,  are  entitled  to  vote; 
and  so  are  the  sons  of  ov^ners  of  real  estate,  where 
they  are  actually  resident  on  the  qualifying 
property. 

With  one  exception  —  that  of  teachers  in  schools 
under  the  management  of  commissioners  or 
trustees  —  the  franchise  in  Quebec  is  based  on 
property,  or  on  income.  It  can  be  exercised  by 
owners  or  occupiers  of  real  estate  valued  in  cities 
at  $300,  or  in  other  municipalities  at  $250,  or 
which  yields  a  value  of  ^20  a  year.  It  can  be 
exercised  by  tenants  in  cities  who  rent  real  estate 
of  the  value  of  $30  a  year,  and  of  ^20  a  year  in 
other  municipalities. 

Teachers  in  schools  under  commissioners  or 
trustees  are  also  enfranchised  —  a  provision  in 
the  law  intended  to  meet  educational  conditions 
in  the  French  province,  where  many  of  the  schools 
and  colleges  are  staffed  by  members  of  the  teach- 
ing orders  of  the  Roman  Catholic  church. 

Rentiers  or  retired  farmers,  with  a  rental  of  at 
least  $100  a  year,  are  enfranchised,  and  so  are 
farmers'  sons,  working  on  their  parents'  farms, 
if  divided  equally  between  them  as  co-proprietors, 
and  sons  of  owners  of  real  property  resident  with 
their  parents.  As  in  Nova  Scotia,  fishermen  who 
own  boats  or  gear  of  an  actual  value  of  at  least 
$150  are  entitled  to  vote. 


[326] 


usages 
in  a 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

VIII.  Landmarks  in  the  Evolution  of  the  Electoral 
System 

Many  of  the  old  laws  and  usages  of  elections    old 
in  England  were  adopted  in  the   British  North   "^^^^^ 
American  provinces  from  Prince  Edward  Island   laws  and 
to  British  Columbia,  in  the  years  from  1758  to 
1867  —  from    the    first    establishment    of   repre-   new 
sentative    government    in    Nova    Scotia    to    the   ^°^^^ 
creation  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada.     The  early 
election  laws  were  patterned   after  the  English 
election   code;     and   English   usages,   as   distinct 
from  laws,  were  established  in  the  British  North 
American   provinces   because  it  was  immigrants 
from  England  who  were  in  charge  of  elections  in 
the  pioneer  days  of  the  provinces. 

Among  these  importations  were  laws  and  usages   Forty- 
which  (i)  estabhshed  the  forty-shilling    freehold   shuung 
as  a  qualification  for  the  vote  in  the  counties  —   holder 
a  qualification   that  in   England   dated   back  to   ^^the 
1430  and  survived  until  the  sweeping  reform  in   voter 
the  electoral  system  of  the  United  Kingdom  in 
191 8;    (2)  admitted  of  a  man  voting  in  as  many 
electoral  divisions  as  he  held  qualifying  properties 
in;   (3)  excluded  civil  servants  from  the  franchise; 

(4)  made  the  possession  of  real  or  personal  prop- 
erty a  requisite  for  membership  of  a  legislature; 

(5)  established  hustings  at  an  election  —  the 
platform  in  the  open  air  at  which  the  sheriff  and 
candidates  and  their  supporters  assembled  on  the 
day  fixed  by  the  sheriff  for  the  nomination;    (6) 

C327] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

established  the  English  custom  of  chairing  the 
successful  candidate  after  the  announcement  by 
the  sheriff  of  the  result  of  the  election;  and  (7) 
the  much  older  English  custom  of  girding  a  newly- 
elected  knight  of  the  shire  or  representative  of 
a  county  with  a  sword. 
The  As  Canada  in  the  first  fifty  years  of  Confeder- 

move-       ation  progressed  towards  democracy,  and  as  bar- 
towards      riers  against  democracy  imported  from  England  ^ 
democ-      began  to  be  regarded  as  out  of  date  and  out  of 
harmony    with    Canadian    political    and    social 
conditions,  the  old  electoral  laws  were  repealed, 
and  the  old  world  usages  were  discarded. 
Passing  The     forty-shilling-freehold     qualification    for 

worid  ^^^  ^^^^  disappeared  before  Confederation.  Only 
laws  and  members  of  the  senate  at  Ottawa  are  today 
^*^^®^  required  to  own  property  as  a  requisite  for 
nomination.  The  law  requiring  a  property  quali- 
fication for  members  of  the  house  of  commons  was 
repealed  by  the  Dominion  parliament  in  1872. 
The  electoral  franchise  of  civil  servants  at  Domin- 
ion elections  has  been  secured  to  them  since  1885; 
and  today  there  are  no  hustings,  and  few  county 
towns  in  the  Dominion  at  which  has  survived 
the  old  English  custom  of  girding  a  knight  of  the 
shire  with  a  sword. 

The  plural  voter  —  the  man  who  can  exercise 
the  franchise  in  several  constituencies  because  he 

1  Edward  Porritt,  "Barriers  against  Democracy  in  the 
British  Electoral  System,"  Political  Science  ^uarterlyy  Vol. 
XXVI,  No.  I. 

C328] 


plural 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

has  property  qualifications  in  these  places  —  Where 
has  survived  longer  than  any  of  the  other  impor- 
tations of  the  old  electoral  system  of  England. 
He  still  survives  in  Nova  Scotia;  and  he  was  not 
dislodged  from  the  electoral  system  in  the  province 
of  Quebec  until  1916.  But  in  Quebec  the  plural 
voter  was  only  a  factor  in  one  or  two  of  the 
divisions  of  Montreal;  and  even  in  the  days  when 
there  were  two  or  three  provinces  in  which  he 
survived,  his  influence  was  greatly  checked  by 
the  fact  that  since  1873  the  polling  at  a  general 
election  has  been  all  on  the  same  day. 


IX.  Qualifications   of  Members   of  the  House  of 
Commons 

The   qualifications   of  members   of  the  house   Pariia- 
of  commons  at  Ottawa,  unlike  those  of  a  member   °^®^* 

.   .  deter- 

of  the  senate,  were  not  defined  by  the  British   mines 
North  America  act.     It  was  left  by  parliament   J^^" 
at  Westminster   in    1867   to  the    parliament  of  of 
Canada  to  determine  both  the  qualifications  and   ™«°i^«' 
disqualifications    of  members    of   the   popularly   com- 
elected  house.  "'^"^ 

"Any  British  subject,"  reads  section  69  of 
the  Dominion  election  code  of  1 898-1908,  "may 
be  a  candidate  in  an  election  for  a  seat  in  the 
house  of  commons."  "No  qualification  in  real 
estate,"  reads  the  only  other  paragraph  in  the 
section,  "shall  be  required  of  any  candidate." 

A  Canadian,  who  has  neither  a  home  nor  any 

C329] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Noresi-     material    possessions    in    the    United    Kingdom, 
^^^m       ^^  eligible  as  a  parliamentary  candidate  at  any 
cation        election  in  England,  Scotland,  or  Ireland,  as  soon 
as  he  arrives  in  the  country.     In  fact,  he  may 
be  adopted  as  a  candidate,  and  elected  without 
his  even  leaving  Canada;    and  the  eligibility  is 
reciprocal.     An  Englishman,  Scotsman,  or  Irish- 
man, or  a  British  subject  from  any  part  of  the 
Empire,  no  matter  how  short  a  time  he  may  have 
been  in  Canada,  is  as  eligible,  under  the  law,  for 
parliament  as  a  native-born  Canadian  who  has 
never  been   beyond   the   boundaries  of  his  own 
province. 
Open  As  in  the  United  Kingdom,  neither  by  law  nor 

field  for     j^y  usage  is  it  necessary  that  a  member  of  the 
baggers      house  of  commons  at  Ottawa  reside  in  the  con- 
stituency that  he  represents. 
Pro-  Thirty  members  of  the  house  of  commons  elected 

portion       jj^  iqn  were  not  residents  of  the  constituencies 

of  non-  ^ 

resident     from  which  they  were  returned.     At  other  general 

members    elections  after  1898  the  proportion  of  non-resident 

members   was   about   the   same;     and   from   the 

absence  of  law  or  usage  requiring  residence  in  a 

constituency  Canada,  like  England,  has  derived 

obvious  and  permanent  advantage. 

Non-  These  easy  conditions,  with  the  freedom  they 

^®^'"         afford    both    to    candidates    and    constituencies, 

dency 

and  make  a  parliamentary  career  possible  for  a  man 

^®®'"®  of  ability  who  has  an  instinct  for  politics.     A  man 

pouticai  so  equipped  can  regard  an  election  to  the  house 

"^®  of  commons  not  merely  as  an  episode  in  his  life. 

[330: 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

He  can  regard  it  as  opening  to  him  a  career  in 
Dominion  politics  —  a  career  in  the  service  of 
the  state;  for  if  he  is  defeated  in  one  constit- 
uency at  a  general  election,  he  can  offer  himself 
for  another  constituency  at  a  special  or  by- 
election,  or  at  the  next  general  appeal  to  the 
electorate. 

Under  any  other  system  than  that  in  use  at   British 
Westminster  for  three  and  a  half  centuries,  and   ^'^  ,, 

'      ,  Canadian 

in  Canada  from  the  earliest  days  of  representative   gains 
institutions  in  the  old   British  North  American   ^°"^ 

abandon- 
provinces,    the    British    system    of    government   mentof 

through  parliament  and  through  a  cabinet,  all  of  ^^^L, 

whose  members  must   be  in   parliament,   would  quaiifi- 

never  have  reached  its  present  high  state  of  de-  *^*^" 
velopment  and  efficiency. 

The  names  of  scores  of  men,  who  in  the  three  Fifteenth- 
centuries  from  the  reign  of  Tames  I  to  that  of  *^®"^ 

°  "^  ,  enact- 

George  V,  rank  high  as  reformers  or  parlia-  ments 
mentarians  or  statesmen,  would  be  missing  from 
the  pages  of  history  had  the  laws  of  Henry  V 
and  Henry  VI,  that  decreed  that  members  of 
the  house  of  commons,  citizens  and  burgesses, 
as  well  as  knights  of  the  shire,  must  be  "dwelHng 
and  resident"  within  their  constituencies,  not 
fallen  into  desuetude  long  before  the  end  of  the 
sixteenth  century. 

It  was  the  lawyers  —  the  gentlemen  of  the  long   Lawyers 
robe  of  the  Inns  of  Court  in  London  —  who,  by   f."^®^' 

English 

their  pressure  on  electors  in  cities  and  boroughs,   carpet- 
wore  down  the  English  election  laws  of  1429,   *>a8sers 

C330 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Empire's 
debt  to 
carpet- 
baggers 
of 
Tudor 


English 
prece- 
dent 
followed 
in 
Canada 


Resulting 


1432,  and  1444-1445,  requiring  that  members  of 
the  house  of  commons  must  live  in  the  counties, 
cities,  or  boroughs  they  represented. 

The  British  Empire  is  thus  indebted  to  the 
lawyers  of  the  Tudor  era,  who,  for  their  own 
advantage,  thrust  aside  the  old  requirement  that 
members  of  the  house  of  commons  must  be  resi- 
dent in  their  constituencies.  The  innovation 
had  advantages  to  recommend  it.  It  was  con- 
ceded to  be  of  national  service  as  early  as  1620. 
In  the  eighteenth  century,  when  the  cabinet 
system  was  being  slowly  developed,  the  freedom 
of  choice  of  the  constituencies  was  especially 
valuable;  and  in  1774  all  the  laws  requiring 
residence  were  repealed.^ 

The  English  precedent  was  followed  when 
representative  systems  were  adopted  in  the 
British  North  American  provinces,  and  again 
when  the  constitution  of  the  Dominion  was 
framed.  There  were  no  provisions  that  residence 
in  a  constituency  should  be  required  of  a  candidate 
for  election. 

A  result  of  this  freedom  —  a  result  of  by  no 
means  small  importance  —  is  the  effect  that  the 
permanency  of  groups  of  well-known  parlia- 
mentary leaders  at  Ottawa  has  on  political 
education,  and  in  stimulating  political  ambition. 
The  names  of  Macdonald,  Brown,  Blake,  Cart- 
wright,  and  Tupper  —  to  take  instances  only  of 
Canadian   statesmen  who  have   passed   away  — 

1  Cf.  Porritt,  "Unreformed  House  of  Commons,"  I,  122. 

C332] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

from  1867  to  1 910  were  as  much  household  words 
in  Canada  as  the  names  of  Salisbury,  Chamber- 
lain, Bright,  Disraeli,  and  Gladstone  were  in 
England  from  1867  to  1906,  when  Chamberlain 
made  his  last  speech  in  the  house  of  commons 
at  Westminster. 

These   five  Canadian   statesmen  were   always  Leader- 
sure   of  large   audiences   in   any   city   from   the  ^^ 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.     The  speeches  they  made   pariia- 
in    parliament  or  on  the   platform  were  widely   °^!f*^* 
read,  —  as    are    the    speeches    made    today    by  fame 
Laurier,  Foster,  or  Borden,  —  and  in  any  democ- 
racy the  utterances  of  the  political  leaders  are 
the   most   effective   means    of  popular   political 
education. 

X.  Disqualifications  of  Parliamentary  Candidates 

First   in    the  category  of  ineligibles   are   men   ineu- 
who  have  been  convicted  of  corrupt  practices  at   **^*®® 
elections.     Next    come   government    contractors. 
Members  of  provincial  legislatures   are   also   in- 
eligible. 

From  1867  to  1872  there  were  many  members  of  Dual 
parliament  who  were  also  members  of  the  legis-  ^°^^^" 
latures  of  Ontario  and  Quebec.  The  Liberals, 
session  after  session,  opposed  this  dual  member- 
ship; for  it  admittedly  gave  opportunities  for 
log  rolling  by  the  Dominion  and  the  provincial 
governments. 

The    case    of    the    Conservative    government 
against  the  abolition  of  dual  representation  was 

[333] 


ineU- 
gible 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Shortage    that  there  were  not  then  sufficient  men  of  political 
***uticai     ^t>ility  in  Canada  to  fill  all  the  seats  in  parlia- 
abiiity       ment  and  in  the  legislatures.     It  was  contended, 
to  1867       moreover,  that  to  prohibit  a  man  from  being  a 
member  of  parliament  and   at  the  same  time  a 
member  of  a  provincial  legislature  was  an  undue 
interference  with   the  freedom  of  choice  of  the 
electors.^ 
Members        Public  opinion,  however,  was  strongly  against 
J**  dual  representation.     It  condemned  the  suspicions 

latures  and  abuses  to  which  it  gave  rise  in  the  years 
when  there  were  still  many  unsettled  questions  — 
financial  and  legal  —  outstanding  between  the 
Dominion  and  the  provinces;  and  in  1872  an 
act  was  passed  by  parliament  which  made  a 
member  of  a  legislature  ineligible  as  a  candidate 
for  the  house  of  commons.^ 
PubUc  Following  English  precedent,  sheriffs  and  regis- 

and^cMi  trars  of  deeds  are  on  the  ineligible  list.  Clerks 
servants  of  the  peace  and  crown  attorneys  are  also  ineligi- 
ble; and  so  is  "every  person  accepting  or  holding 
any  office,  commission,  or  employment,  perma- 
nent or  temporary,  in  the  service  of  the  govern- 
ment of  Canada  at  the  nomination  of  the  crown 
or  at  the  nomination  of  any  of  the  officers  of  the 
government  of  Canada,  to  which  any  salary,  fee, 
wages,  allowance,  emolument,  or  profit  of  any 
kind  is  attached."  Ministers,  of  whom  in  1918 
there  were  twenty- three,   are  exempt  from   the 

1  Cf.  H.  C.  Debates,  March  i,  1870. 

2  35  Vict.  c.  XV. 

[  334  ] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

section  of  the  election  law  which  excludes  office 
holders  —  provincial  as  well  as  Dominion  —  from 
parliament. 

XL  Duration  of  Parliaments 

General  elections  in  Canada,  unlike  congres-   statutory 
sional  elections  in  the  United  States,  do  not  come   ^^^  °* 

.  parlla- 

at  fixed  and  regular  periods.  The  election  of  a  ment 
new  house  of  commons  begins  a  new  parliament. 
Under  the  British  North  America  act  the  term 
of  a  parliament  can  run  for  five  years.  It  is, 
however,  possible  for  the  governor-general  to 
dissolve  a  parliament  at  any  time,  in  one  of  two 
eventualities.  He  must  grant  a  dissolution  if 
his  ministers  —  the  cabinet  —  ask  for  it;  and  he 
can,  exercising  the  prerogative  of  the  crown, 
order  a  dissolution  at  a  crisis  which  in  his  opinion 
renders  it  necessary  that  there  should  be  a  general 
appeal  to  the  constituencies. 

With    two    or    three    exceptions,    parliaments   Pariia- 
since  1867  have  run  nearly  their  full  course  of  ^^\^ 
five   years.     One    of   these    exceptions    was    the   not  run 
parliament  of  1 872-1 874,  the  duration  of  which   ^" 
was    much    shortened    by    the    downfall    of   the 
Macdonald    administration   in   November,    1873, 
due  to  the  scandal  in  connection  with  the  granting 
of  the   first    charter   for   the    Canadian    Pacific 
Railway. 

Alexander  Mackenzie,  leader  of  the  Liberal 
opposition,  was  called  upon  by  Dufferin,  the 
governor-general,    to    form    a   new   government. 

[335] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Dis-  The  call  to  Mackenzie  came  after  Macdonald, 

solutions    }iavin2:  been  defeated  in  the  house  of  commons, 

due  to  ,  .        . 

pouticai      had,  according  to  constitutional  usage,  tendered 
"^®*        his  resignation  to  the  governor-general. 

A  group  of  Conservatives  had  voted  with  the 
Liberals  for  the  motion  censuring  Macdonald 
and  his  government.  But  these  Conservatives 
had  not  thrown  in  their  lot  with  the  Liberals  on 
other  questions  than  the  Canadian  Pacific  scandal; 
and  the  Liberals  in  the  session  of  1873  were 
outnumbered  by  the  Conservatives  by  six. 
Dis-  No  contentious  business  could  have  been  carried 

S 1874  through  the  house  under  these  adverse  conditions. 
At  the  request  of  the  new  administration  parlia- 
ment was  dissolved  on  January  2;  and  at  the 
elections  on  January  22  the  Mackenzie  adminis- 
tration was  returned  with  a  majority  of  sixty 
in  a  house  of  206  members. 
Opposi-  Another   instance   of   a    parliament   that   was 

tion  forces  (jjggQiyej  somc  time  before  the  end  of  its  term 
solution     was  that  of  1908-1911.     Like  the  parliament  of 
in  1911       1 872-1 874  its  lifetime  was  shortened  by  a  crisis  — 
a  crisis  not  due  to  a  scandal,  but  to  the  persistent 
and  successful  obstruction,  by  the  Conservative 
opposition,  of  the  bill  of  the  Laurier  government 
for    reestablishing    commercial    reciprocity    with 
the  United  States. 
Crisis  The  opposition  was  determined  to  force  a  dis- 

^^^^  solution.     The  obstructionists  were  so  successful 

reciproc-  ...  ^y' 

ity  bill      that  the  reciprocity  bill,  necessary  to  make  effec- 
tive the  reciprocity  act  already  passed  by  congress 

[336] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

at  Washington,  did  not  get  beyond  its  preliminary 
stages  in  the  house  of  commons.  The  opposition 
forced  the  Laurier  administration  into  a  place 
where  it  had  either  to  withdraw  the  bill,  or  to 
ask  the  governor-general  to  grant  a  dissolution. 
The  government  preferred  a  dissolution;  and 
after  the  general  election  in  September,  Laurier 
and  his  following  of  the  Liberal  party  found 
themselves  in  a  minority  of  thirty-seven  in  the 
new  house  of  commons.^ 

As  at  Westminster,  it  is  only  under  the  most 
exceptional  circumstances  that  a  governor-general 
at  Ottawa  can  dissolve  parliament  by  the  exer- 
cise of  the  prerogative,  and  not  on  the  advice 
of  his  ministers. 

XIL  Dissolution   of  Parliament  —  General 
Elections 

The  last  session  of  a  parliament  before  dissolu-   The 
tion  ends  in  exactly  the  same  way  as  any  other    ^^^^^  * 
session.     There    is    the    usual    speech    from    the    ment 
throne  in  the  chamber  of  the  senate.     Senators 
and  members  of  the  house  of  commons  disperse 
to  their  homes;    and  at  a  later  date,  determined 
upon  by  the  cabinet,  there  issues  a  royal  procla- 
mation dissolving  parliament. 

The  proclamation  discharges  the  existing  parlia- 
ment —  the  parliament  that  had  been  prorogued 
at  the  end  of  the  session  —  from  its  duties  of 

*  Conservatives,  133;  Liberals,  86;  Independents,  2. 

C337] 


EVOLUTION    OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Dis-  attendance;    declares   the   desire   of  the   crown, 

solution      acting    through    the    governor-general,    to    have 
procia-       the  advice  of  its  people,  and  the  royal  will  and 
mation       pleasure  to  call  a  new  parliament.     It  is  further 
announced  in  the  proclamation  that  an  order  has 
been  issued  to  the  clerk  of  the  crown  in  chancery 

—  a  state  official  at  Ottawa  —  to  issue  the  neces- 
sary writs  for  the  new  parliament. 

King's  The  writs  go  out  in   the  name  of  the   king. 

They  go  to  the  sheriffs  or  other  returning  officers 

—  a  separate  writ  for  each  electoral  division. 
In  the  writ  the  sheriff  is  informed  that  "by  the 
advice  of  our  privy  council  for  Canada,  we  have 
ordered  a  parliament  to  be  holden  at  Ottawa," 
on  a  date  that  is  named.  The  sheriff  is  com- 
manded, notice  of  the  time  and  place  of  the 
election  having  been  duly  given,  to  "cause  election 
to  be  made,  according  to  law,  of  a  member  to 
serve  in  the  house  of  commons  of  Canada,  for 
the  electoral  district"  of  Algoma,  or  whatever 
the  district  may  be. 

Com-  The  sheriff  is  further  commanded  to  "cause 

™^<^  the  nomination  of  candidates  at  such  election" 
sheriff  to  be  held  on  a  day  named  in  the  writ.  The 
election  is  held  seven  days  after  the  nomination; 
and  after  the  votes  have  been  counted  it  is  the 
duty  of  the  sheriff — again  quoting  from  the 
writ  —  to  cause  the  name  of  the  member  elected, 
"whether  he  is  present  or  absent,  to  be  certified 
to  our  clerk  of  the  crown  in  chancery,  as  by  law 
directed." 

[338] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

The   procedure   is   almost   identical  with   that   Election 
followed  in  the  election  of  members  to  the  house   ^°^^ 

dure 

of  commons  at  Westminster,  procedure  now  al- 
most six  centuries  old. 

Before  the  writs  are  received  by  the  returning   Extra- 
officers  much  has  happened  in  connection  with   !°^^ 
the    pending   election   which    may    be   described    proce- 
as  extra-constitutional,  in  that  it  is  not  governed    ^^^ 
by   any   section   of  the    British   North   America 
act,    nor    by    any    enactment    of  the    Dominion 
parliament. 

Party  conventions  have  been  held  in  each  con-   Con- 
stituency at  which  candidates  have  been  chosen.    ^^*^°^* 
The  premier  of  the  government  in  existence  at  the   mani- 
dissolution  of  parliament  has  issued  his  manifesto   ^®^*°®® 
to  all  the  electors  of  the  Dominion,  and  a  similar 
manifesto  has  been  issued  by  the  leader  of  the 
party   in   opposition.     Each   candidate   has   also 
issued  his  address  to  the  electors  of  the  constit- 
uency from  which  he    desires  to   be  returned  to 
parliament;    and   each   candidate  has  made  his 
campaign    at    mass    meetings    in    the    electoral 
division. 

The   returning  officer  in   his  official   capacity   No 
knows  nothing  of  political  parties.     At  his  session,   ^°^*"" 
in  the  court  house  or  the  town  hall,  on  nominat-   recogni- 
ing  day,  any  twenty-five  electors  may  nominate   "°JJ^ 
a  candidate;     and   it  does  not  come  within  the   parties 
duties  of  a  returning  officer  to  make  any  inquiries 
as  to  the  party  affiliations  of  the  electors  who 
sign  the  nominating  paper. 

[  339  ] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Return- 
ing 
officer 
and 

nomina- 
tions 


All  that  the  returning  officer  is  legally  required 
to  ascertain  is  (i)  that  the  person  named  in  each 
nominating  paper  has  consented  in  writing  to 
the  nomination,  except  where  such  person  is 
absent  from  the  province,  when  such  absence 
must  be  stated  in  the  nominating  paper;  and 
(2)  that  accompanying  each  nominating  paper 
there  is  a  deposit  of  $200. 


Canadian 
inno- 
vation on 
British 
code 

British 
parlia- 
mentary 
candi- 
dates 
pay 
official 
expenses 
of 
elections 


XIII.  Candidates   and  the   Official  Expenses 
of  Elections 

Canada,  in  its  election  code,  has  departed  in 
one  important  particular  from  the  usage  of 
elections  and  the  laws  applicable  to  members  of 
the  house  of  commons  at  Westminster. 

By  usage  for  many  generations  before  171 2, 
and  by  numerous  enactments  since  171 2,  candi- 
dates for  the  British  house  of  commons  have 
always  been  saddled  with  the  official  expenses 
of  elections.  They  pay  the  fees  of  the  returning 
officers,  and  the  cost  of  constructing  polling 
booths  or  of  hiring  rooms  for  polling  booths. 
They  pay  the  cost  of  printing  the  ballots,  and  of 
official  advertising.  They  pay  the  fees  of  the 
poll  clerks,  and  of  the  men  who  count  the  ballots; 
and  they  pay  also  all  charges  for  the  services  of 
extra  policemen  who  may  be  required  to  keep 
order  on  election  day. 

Before  a  nomination  of  a  candidate  Is  accepted 
by  a  returning  officer  in  the  United  Kingdom, 

C340] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

the  candidate  must  make  a  deposit  large  enough  Deposit 

to   cover   his   quota   of  the   official   expenses  —  ^^_  ^^ 

expenses  which,  for  each  candidate,  vary  from  date 
£ioo  in  a  borough  constituency  to  £1500  in  a 
county  division  with  a  large  electorate. 

Official  expenses  at  elections  in  Canada,  except  official 

in  one  eventuality,  are  a  charge  on  the  Dominion  expenses 

treasury.     Under  the  election  code  of  the  United  elections 

Provinces,    in    the    days    of   nomination    at    the  ^ 

hi  .  ..  ...      Canada  a 

ustings   and   open   voting  —  proceedings  which   pubUc 

the  law   stipulated   must   be   held   in   the   open   charge 

air  —  none  of  the  official  expenses  were  by  law 

thrown    on    the    candidates,  and    there   was  no 

change   in   this   respect   until   the   first   election 

code  of  the  Dominion  was  enacted  by  parliament 

in  1874. 

In  this  code  it  was  provided  that  each  candidate,   Charges 
before   his  nomination  could   be   accepted,  must   °^^y_ 
make   a   payment  of  ^50  towards   the  expenses   dates 
of  the  returning  officer.     The  code  of  1874  was   f^ 
framed    and    carried    through    parliament    by    a   to  I882 
Liberal  government. 

At  the  redistribution  of  representation  in  1882    Amend- 
—  a   redistribution  notorious   for  the   systematic   ^®°* 
gerrymandering    of    electoral    divisions    by    the    election 
Conservative  government,  of  which   Macdonald 
was  premier  —  an  amendment  was  made  to  the 
electoral   code   of   1874.     The   section   providing 
for  the  payment  of  $50  towards  election  expenses 
by   candidates  was   repealed.     In   its   place  was 
inserted  a  remarkable  section  which  still  remains 

[341] 


code  in 
1882 


undemo- 
cratic 
pro- 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

in  the  electoral  code.  It  is  remarkable,  because 
it  was  undemocratic  in  conception;  and  for  thirty- 
five  years  it  has  been  undemocratic  in  operation. 
It  is,  moreover,  without  a  parallel  in  the  election 
codes  of  English-speaking  countries. 
An  Under  this   section   of  the  electoral  law  each 

candidate,  before  his  nomination  is  accepted  by 
the  returning  officer,  must  deposit  with  that 
iaw*S^  official  a  sum  of  $200.  To  a  successful  candidate 
1882  the    deposit    is    promptly    returned.     It    is    not 

returned  to  an  unsuccessful  candidate  if  he  fails 
to  obtain  a  number  of  votes  at  least  equal  to 
half  the  number  polled  by  the  candidate  elected. 
In  this  event  the  deposit  is  forfeited  to  the 
king,  for  the  public  uses  of  Canada,  and  is  applied 
by  the  returning  officer  toward  the  payment  of 
election  expenses. 

XIV.  A  Statutory  Penalty  for  an  Unsuccessful 
Candidate 

Object  The  object  of  thus  penalizing  an  unsuccessful 

°*  candidate  is  professedly  to  prevent  irresponsible 

men  from  thrusting  themselves  into  an  election. 
It  has  the  effect  of  checking  contests  against  mem- 
bers of  a  preceding  parliament  who  secured  their 
seats  by  large  majorities.  It  accounts  for  many 
uncontested  elections  —  for  what  are  described  as 
walk-overs  or  elections  by  acclamation. 

A   candidate   who   has    been    returned    by   an 
overwhelming  majority,  to  emphasize  the  measure 

[342] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

of  success,  frequently   uses   the   phrase  that   his   Candi- 
opponent  "lost  his  deposit,"  a  remark  that  indi-  j^^gg^^^ 
Gates  that  he  regards  his  seat  in  the  house  of  deposit 
commons  as  unassailable. 

The  system  of  only  two  parties  in  politics  —   Two- 
Conservative  and  Liberal  —  is  much  more  firmly   ^^ 

system 

established  in  Canada  than  it  was  in  England  in 
during  the  half  century  before  the  war.  At  ^^^^^ 
Westminster,  after  the  Irish  Nationalist  party 
was  organized  in  the  parliament  of  1 867-1 874, 
the  old  system  of  two  parties  broke  down;  and 
from  1900  to  1 91 4  there  were  five  distinct  organ- 
ized parties  in  the  house  of  commons. 

The  two-party  system  in  Canada  is  even  more   An 
firmly  established  than  it  is  in  the  United  States,    ^sraiian 

.  party 

An  agrarian  party  that  developed  some  strength  that 
in  Ontario  —  the  Patrons  of  Industry  —  elected  co^^psed 
two  or  three  members  to  Ottawa  in  1896.  But 
it  was  a  short-lived  movement;  and  at  no  time 
in  Canada  was  there  a  movement,  carried  on 
independently  of  both  Conservative  and  Liberal 
parties,  that  for  success  in  securing  representation 
in  the  federal  legislature  can  be  compared  with 
the  movement  of  the  Progressive  Republicans 
at  the  congressional  elections  of  191 2  and  1914.  ^ 

Nearly    I3,cxx>    votes    were    polled    for    labor   No 
candidates  in   the  Dominion   general  election   of        ^, 

o  members 

191 1.     But  in  no  house  of  commons  from  1900  to   at 
1916  was  there  a  single  independent  labor  member,   ^^^"^^ 
despite  the  fact  that   there   are  a  score  of  con- 
*  Cf.  Riddell,  "Constitution  of  Canada,"  105-106. 

C343] 


EVOLUTION    OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

stituencies   in  which   men  employed  in   factories 
or  in  coal  mines  constitute  the  majority  of  the 
electorate. 
Labor  For  ten   or  twelve  years   before  the  war  the 

^^J^  Dominion  Trades  and  Labor  Congress  —  a  per- 
eiection  manent  organization  with  headquarters  in  Toronto 
eposi  —  ^^  ^j^g  g^^  ^^  each  new  session  of  parliament 
petitioned  both  Liberal  and  Conservative  govern- 
ments to  repeal  the  section  of  the  electoral  code 
which  requires  a  deposit  from  a  candidate  for 
the  house  of  commons.  In  1914  the  deputation 
from  the  congress  —  an  organization  which  com- 
prises in  its  membership  most  of  the  leaders  of 
the  labor  party  in  provincial  and  municipal 
politics  —  coupled  with  the  request  for  repeal 
a  suggestion  that  a  candidate  might  be  required 
to*  obtain  a  much  larger  number  of  signatures 
to  his  nomination  paper  than  the  twenty-five 
demanded  by  the  existing  code. 

The  petition  for  this  reform  was  presented  to 
Doherty,  minister  of  justice,  in  the  Borden  govern- 
eiection  ment.  It  evoked  more  sympathy  from  him  than 
it  had  done  from  any  minister,  Liberal  or  Conserv- 
ative, in  any  previous  year.  "Under  the  present 
law,"  he  said,  "a  candidate  is  practically  betting 
$200  that  he  will  secure  half  as  many  votes  as 
the  candidate  who  is  elected."  "We  say  to  a 
candidate,"  he  added,  lapsing  into  the  colloquial, 
"go  down  in  your  clothes  and  get  $200,  or  you 
can't  have  a  run  at  this  thing."  ^ 

^  Globe,  Toronto,  March  14,  1914. 
C344] 


A 

gamble 
on  an 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

The    penalizing    section    was    aimed    at    the  ix>ng 
Liberals,   who   in    1882  were  in   opposition.     In   ^^ 
operation  it  has  had  a  more  far-reaching  effect   pouticai 
than    the   Conservative    authors    of   the    clause   p®^®^ 
conceived.     It  has  been  of  service  to  the  Liberal 
party  at  Ottawa  as  well  as  to  the  Conservative 
party.     It  has  been  of  even  more  service  to  the 
Liberals  than  the  Conservatives;   for  the  require- 
ment of  a  deposit  of  $200  tends  to  prevent  a  gen- 
eral election  from  being  used  as  an  opportunity 
for  unauthorized  political  propaganda;  and  usu- 
ally, in  any  English-speaking  country,  it  is  the 
professedly  liberal  orthodox  political  party  that 
sustains  most  loss  of  electoral  strength  from  the 
propaganda  of  unorthodox  political  groups  such 
as  the  Labor  and  Socialist  parties. 

The  law  of  1882   is,   moreover,   obviously   an   An  aid 
aid  in  maintaining  discipline  in  the  two  existing   ^^ 
parties  in  the  house  of  commons.     The  undemo-   disci- 
cratic  character  of  it,  in  a  country  where  electors   ^^^ 
in    seven    provinces    vote    on    manhood-suffrage 
franchises,    has    consequently    been    persistently 
ignored  by  Liberal  as  well  as  by  Conservative 
politicians    at   Ottawa. 


XV.  Simplicity  of  Election  Procedure 

As  contrasted  with  congressional  elections  in  Only  one 

the   United    States,    elections    to    the    house    of  t^be 

commons    at    Ottawa    are    exceedingly    simple,  marked 
There  are  three  or  four  constituencies,   as,   for 

C345] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

example,  Ottawa  and  St.  John,  in  which  electors 
vote  for  two  candidates.  In  the  other  220-odd 
electoral  divisions,  when  an  elector  goes  to  the 
polls  all  that  he  can  do  is  to  vote  for  one  or  other 
of  two  candidates. 
No  At  Dominion  elections  only  members  of  the 

emWems    ^^^^^e   of  commons    are    chosen.      Provincial   or 
on  municipal   elections   are  never  held   at  the  same 

baUots       time.     There  are  no  party  emblems  on  the  bal- 
lots,  no  word  or  mark  to  indicate  with  which 
political  party  the  candidate  is  affiliated. 
No  The   term   "Liberal"   or   "Conservative"   has 

statutory    j^gygj.  |)ggj^  embodied  in  a  Canadian  act  of  par- 

recog-  ,  .... 

nition        liament.     These  political  parties  exist,  and  have 
°Siticai      existed  since  1792.     But  it  is  possible  to  go  through 
parties       all  the  Constitutions  framed   for  the  old   British 
North  American  provinces,  for  the  Dominion  of 
Canada,  and  for  the  three  provinces  created  by 
the  Dominion  parliament  since  1867,  as  well  as 
through    all    the   laws    governing    elections    and 
concerning  parliament,  without  finding   a   single 
acknowledgment  of  the  existence  of  either  Con- 
servative or  Liberal  party.     Political  parties  and 
their  activities  in  and  out  of  parliament  are  extra- 
constitutional;     and    in    Canada,    in    accordance 
with  British  precedent,  they  are  without  statu- 
tory recognition. 
Order         The  names  of  candidates  are   printed  on  the 
°'  ballot   papers   in   alphabetical   order.     The  size, 

on  baUot  letterpress,  and  every  detail  of  the  ballot  paper 
are    determined    by    the    electoral    code    of   the 

[346] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

Dominion.  To  prevent  the  printing  of  fraudu- 
lent ballots,  the  paper  used  for  the  official  ballots 
is  issued  by  the  king's  printer  at  Ottawa. 

The  ballot  paper,  in  an  electoral  division  which    Form  of 
returns  two  members,  is  in  this  form:  **^^°* 


-i     WM.    R.    BROWN 

X    of  the  city  of  Ottawa,  Barrister. 

Q    FRANK   BAMON 

^     of  the  city  of  Ottawa,  Artist 

Q     JOSEPH    O'NEII. 

1    C^     of  the  city  of  Ottawa,  Gentleman. 

A     JOHN    R.  SMITH 

TX    of  the  city  of  Ottawa,  Merchant. 

The  hours  of   polling   are   from   nine   to   five   Hours 
o'clock.     Ballots  are  counted  at  the  polling  sta-   °* 
tions  by  the  deputy  returning  officers,  "in   full 
view  of  the  poll  clerk,  and  the  candidates  or  their 
agents,"   and   before    midnight  on   election    day 

[347] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

the  government  in  office  has  been  unofficially 
informed  of  its  fate.  It  learns  from  the  news- 
paper bulletins  whether  it  has  been  granted 
another  lease  of  power  by  the  electorate,  or 
whether,  in  a  few  days,  it  must  give  place  to  an 
administration  formed  by  the  leader  of  the 
opposition  in  the  late  parliament. 
Return  Each  writ  is  promptly  returned  to  the  clerk 

of  writ       Qjp  ^j^g  crown  at  Ottawa;   and  the  final  act  of  the 
returning  officer  is  the   publication  of  abstracts 
of  the  statements  of  expenses  incurred  by  candi- 
dates at  the  election. 
Election         Each  candidate  is  by  law  required  to  appoint 
**^®^'        an  election  agent;    and  only  through  this  agent 
can  payments  be  made  of  expenses  incurred  by 
the  candidate  in  connection  with  the  election. 
Extra-  At  elections  in  the  United  Kingdom  the  maxi- 

eiection  mum  sum  that  can  be  expended  by  a  candidate 
expenses  Jg  fixed  by  law.  The  sum  is  determined  by  the 
number  of  electors,  and  by  the  general  character 
of  the  constituency  —  a  larger  amount  being 
allowed  for  connty  divisions  than  for  divisions 
of  cities  or  for  boroughs.  In  Canada  there  is  no 
such  restriction  on  election  expenses.  Except  for 
the  deposit,  election  expenses  are  within  the  con- 
trol of  the  candidates,  and  it  costs  much  less  to 
contest  a  constituency  in  Canada  than  in  Eng- 
land or  Scotland. 
Election  Petitions    arising   out   of  elections  —  petitions 

petitions     ^j^^^  have  for  their  object  the  unseating  of  mem- 
bers for  bribery  or  corruption,  or  other  contra- 

C348] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

ventions  of  the  electoral  code  —  are  tried  before 
two  judges  of  the  superior  court  of  the  province 
in  which  the  election  in  dispute  was  held.  The 
Dominion  parliament  inherited  from  the  leg- 
islature of  the  United  Provinces  the  system  of 
referring  controverted  election  cases  to  select  com- 
mittees of  the  house  of  commons.  This  system 
was  that  in  use  at  Westminster  from  1770,  when 
the  Grenville  act  was  passed,  until  1868,  when 
parliament  transferred  the  adjudication  of  elec- 
tion cases  from  committees  of  the  house  to  judges 
of  the  high  court. 

Canada  in  1873  followed  the  Westminster  prec-  Trial  o« 
edent  of  1868;    and  since  then  all  election  cases   ®^®*=**<*°' 

cases  by 

have  been  heard  by  judges  of  the  superior  court  judges 
of  the  provinces,  with  a  right  of  appeal  to  the 
supreme  court  of  the  Dominion  —  a  court  which 
holds  its  sessions  at  Ottawa.  The  judges,  after 
hearing  an  election  case,  report  their  decision 
to  the  speaker,  who  in  turn  reports  it  to  the 
house  of  commons.  In  the  event  of  the  unseating 
of  a  member,  a  motion  for  a  new  writ  is  moved 
in  the  house. 

A  member  of  the  house  of  commons  can  resign   Resig- 
at    any   time    by    a    formal    notification    to   the   ^**°" 
speaker  of  his  intention  to  do  so.     In  this  par-  mem- 
ticular   the    Dominion    house   of   commons    has   ***" 
made   an   innovation   on   the   procedure   of  the 
house    of   commons    at    Westminster,    where    a 
member  can  free  himself  from  service  only  by 
applying  for,  and  being  appointed  to,  the  steward- 

r.  349  ] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

ship  of  the  Chiltern  Hundreds,  or  of  a  crown 
manor.     These   are  technically  offices  of  profit 
under  the  crown.     Acceptance  of  one  of  these 
offices  by  a  member  vacates  his  seat. 
Anti-  While  the  Dominion  parliament  has  devised  a 

e"**iSi  rnore  easy  method  by  which  a  member  can  free 
proce-  himself  of  the  tie  to  his  constituency  and  to  the 
house  of  commons,  it  still  retains  the  old  proce- 
dure of  Westminster.  Occasionally  a  member 
who  desires  to  retire  accepts  an  appointment  to 
a  country  postmastership  that  happens  to  be 
vacant.  He  holds  the  office  for  a  day  or  two,  and 
then  tenders  his  resignation  to  the  postmaster- 
general. 


diire 
retained 


[350] 


CHAPTER  XIII 


THE    cabinet:    the    king's    privy 


A 


council     for     CANADA 

T  a  general  election,  if  the   result  is  the   Fate  of 
return    to    the    house    of   commons    of   a   ^^^*' 
majority  pledged  to  the  support  of  the  adminis-   deter- 
tration    in    power,    there    is    no    change   in    the   ™^ 
premiership,  and   usually  only   a  few  changes  in   general 
the   personnel   of  the   cabinet.  eection 

On  the  other  hand,  if  the  opposition  in  the 
late  parliament  has  secured  a  majority,  the  pre- 
mier, with  as  little  delay  as  possible,  tenders  his 
resignation  to  the  governor-general.^  By  the 
resignation  of  the  premier  —  as  at  his  death  — 
all  the  other  members  of  the  cabinet  hand  in 
their  resignations. 

Appointment  to  all  cabinet  offices  is  made  by   Appoint- 
the  governor-general  only  on   the  recommend  a-   ™^^ef* 
tion  of  the  premier.    It  is  the  right  and  privilege 
of  the  premier  to  choose  his  colleagues,  and  to 
submit  their  names   to  the  governor-general  for 
appointment.     Every  member  of  a   cabinet,   so 

^  "The  present  practice  is  for  the  government  to  resign  as 
soon  as  it  is  certain  that  it  is  defeated  at  an  election;  but  it 
cannot  yet  be  called  unconstitutional  for  the  defeated  govern- 
ment to  hold  office  until  it  is  voted  down  in  the  house  of 
commons."  —  Riddell,  "  Constitution  of  Canada,"  Note  VII, 
jo6. 

C35«] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

chosen,  knows  that  in  the  event  of  the  death 
or  resignation  of  the  premier,  he  must,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  principle  on  which  government 
by  parliament  and  cabinet  is  based,  at  once 
resign  his  portfoHo. 


I.    The  Formation  of  a  Cabinet 

For-  The  governor-general,  on  the  resignation  of  a 

^  °°  premier  whose  party  has  sustained  defeat  at  an 
cabinet  election,  sends  for  the  leader  of  the  opposition, 
who  is  charged  by  the  governor-general  with  the 
formation  of  the  new  cabinet. 
Number  In  the  first  administration  after  Confedera- 
^jjjjjg_  tion  —  the  Macdonald  administration  of  1867- 
tMiai  1873  —  there  were  fifteen  ministers,  one  of  whom 
was  without  portfolio.  From  1867  to  1891  the 
presidency  of  the  council  was  a  separate  office. 
From  1 891  to  1917  the  offices  of  first  minister 
and  president  of  the  council  were  held  by  the 
same  member  of  the  cabinet;  and  from  1909  to 
191 7  the  premier  also  held  the  office  of  secretary 
of  state  for  external  affairs  —  an  office  created 
by  act  of  parliament  in  1909  in  consequence 
of  the  increased  international  relations  of  the 
Dominion. 

With  a  view  to  more  systematic  and  acceler- 
ated development  of'  the  public  lands  and  of  the 
resources  of  the  Dominion  after  the  war,  there 
was  created  in  1917,  the  department  of  immigra- 
tion and  colonization.     To  this  new  department 

C352] 


office 


the 
great 


THE  CABINET 

were  assigned  powers,  duties,  and  functions  which,   increase 
from  Confederation  to  1917,  had  been  in  the  de-   n^gn^ber- 
partment  of  the  interior.     In   1917  also,   at  the    ship 
organization  on  September  12,  of   the  union  gov-   ^binet 
ernment,  with  Borden  as  premier,^  the  office  of  due  to 
president  of  the  council  again  became  a  separate 
office.    These  changes  in  1917  increased  the  num- 
ber of  ministerial  offices  to  twenty-three.^ 

1.  First  minister. 

2.  Secretary  of  state  for  external  affairs. 

3.  President  of  the  king's  privy  council  for 
Canada. 

4.  Minister  of  finance. 

5.  Minister  of  trade  and  commerce. 

6.  Minister  of  public  works. 

7.  Minister  of  railways  and  canals. 

1  At  this  reorganization,  what,  from  191 1,  had  been  a 
Conservative  ministry  became  a  coalition  or  union  win-the- 
war  administration.  There  were  of  the  new  administration 
fourteen  Conservatives,  eight  Liberals,  and  one  leader  of  the 
newly  organized  grain  growers'  party  in  the  prairie  provinces. 
Six  of  the  members  of  the  new  cabinet  were,  in  October,  with- 
out seats  in  the  house  of  commons  or  the  senate.  Parliament, 
however,  was  not  in  session  in  the  autumn  of  19 17;  and  no 
attempt  was  made  by  the  new  members  of  the  ministry  to 
enter  parliament  until  the  general  election  on  December  17, 
1917,  the  election  at  which  the  union  administration  and  its 
war  policy  was  indorsed  by  the  constituencies. 

2  In  the  administration  organized  in  October,  19 17,  there 
was  also  a  minister  of  overseas  service  —  a  war-time  office 
that  is  not  likely  to  survive  the  war  and  the  restoration  of  the 
military  forces  of  the  Dominion  to  a  peace  basis. 

[353] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

8.  Minister  of    marine   and  fisheries  and  of 
naval  defense. 

9.  Minister  of  the  interior. 

10.  Minister  of  immigration  and  colonization. 

11.  Minister  of  militia  and  defense. 

12.  Minister  of  agriculture. 

13.  Minister  of  customs. 

14.  Minister  of  inland  revenues. 

15.  Minister  of  justice. 

16.  Postmaster-general. 

17.  Minister  of  labor. 

18.  Secretary  of  state. 

19.  Minister  of  mines. 

20.  Attorney-general.  ^ 

21.  Solicitor-general. 

22.  Parliament    secretary  of    the  department 
of  external  affairs. 

23.  Parliamentary    secretary    of    militia     and 
defense.^ 

Salaries  The  aggregate  salaries  of  the  first  minister 
^^  and  secretary  of  state  for  external  affairs,  two 
ters  offices  Usually  held  by  the  same  man,  are  $12,000. 

With  the  exception  of  the  two  parliamentary 
secretaries,  whose  salaries  are  $5000,  the  other 
ministers  receive  $7000.  These  salaries,  in  each 
case,  are  in  addition  to  the  parliamentary  indem- 
nity of  $2500. 

1  The  office  of  attorney-general  is  usually  held  in  conjunc- 
tion with  that  of  minister  of  justice. 

2  These  parliamentary  secretaries,  like  the  solicitor-general, 
are  of  the  ministry  but  not  of  the  cabinet. 

C354] 


THfi  CABINET 

II.   Conditions  Determining  the  Distribution 
of  Cabinet  Offices 

In  framing  a  new  cabinet,  in  making  recom-  Reswc- 

mendations  to  the  governor-general  for  appoint-  *^°°^ 

ments   to   these   ministerial   offices,   the   premier  premier's 

has    (in    normal    times)    much    less    freedom    of  ^^^^^'^^  °' 

I'll  1  •  •    •  TT7  cabinet 

choice   than   has   the   prime   minister   at    West-   coi- 
minster.  ^^«"«* 

At  Westminster,  a  premier,  after  a  general 
election  which  has  newly  returned  to  power  the 
party  of  which  he  is  the  leader,  must  consider 
the  claims  to  office  of  the  men  who  are  associated 
with  him  in  the  leadership  of  the  party.  Men  who 
have  established  a  claim  upon  him  are  of  both 
the  house  of  commons  and  the  house  of  lords; 
and  there  must  be  a  division  —  now  always  an 
unequal  one  —  of  cabinet  and  ministerial  offices 
between  the  commons  and  the  lords.  At  such 
times  the  house  of  commons  is  the  predominant 
partner,  and  to  its  members  go  the  larger  number 
of  ministerial  appointments. 

At  Ottawa  an  incoming  premier  seldom  need   Senate 
concern  himself  about  the  claims  to  cabinet  office   f°°*  *j. 
of  members  of  the  senate.    All  claims  a  politician   at 
may  have  established  on  his  party  are  settled  in   °^^j^^ 
full    by   his    appointment    to    the    senate.      The   of 
senate,  moreover,  has  never  developed  any  leaders   *^^^®* 
who  for  long  made  any  place    for  themselves  in 
political  life. 

Leaders  of  established  position,  who  are  grow- 

[  355  ] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Provin- 
cial 
states- 
men with 
claims 
to 
cabinet 


Securing 
seats 
in 

parlia- 
ment 
for 
pro- 
vlacial 
states- 
men 


ing  old,  occasionally  get  themselves  transferred 
from  the  house  to  the  senate;  but  it  is  seldom, 
indeed,  that  a  senator  of  the  rank  and  file  has 
established  any  claim  on  his  party  that  need  be 
recognized  when  a  new  cabinet  is  formed.  The 
upper  house  at  Ottawa  is  thus  not  a  factor  in 
the  formation  of  a  cabinet  to  anything  like  the 
extent  that  the  house  of  lords  is,  and  always  has 
been,  when  a  cabinet  is  coming  into  being  at 
Whitehall. 

At  Westminster  a  prime  minister  must  weigh 
the  claims  of  men  only  who  are  already  in  parlia- 
ment. A  prime  minister  at  Ottawa  must  do 
more  than  this.  He  must  consider  the  claims 
of  men  of  his  party  in  the  house  of  commons, 
and  also  of  men  who  are  not  in  parliament,  but 
whose  claims  rest  on  party  service  in  office,  or 
in  opposition,  in  the  provincial  legislatures. 

It  is  usual  for  the  premier  of  the  Dominion  to 
summon  to  his  cabinet  men  who  are  premiers  of 
provincial  governments  or  leaders  of  the  opposi- 
tion in  provincial  legislatures.  Men  so  summoned 
to  Ottawa  are,  of  course,  without  seats  in  the 
house  of  commons.  If  they  accept  the  premier's 
oflFer,  as  they  almost  invariably  do,  they  must 
resign  their  seats  in  the  provincial  legislatures  and 
any  office  they  may  hold  in  the  provincial  govern- 
ments. Seats  in  the  house  of  commons  must  be 
secured  for  them  without  delay,  for  only  mem- 
bers of  parliament  can  hold  cabinet  offices. 

In  a  newly-elected    house  of  commons  there 

C356] 


THE  CABINET 

are  always  members  who  are  willing  to  resign  Accom- 
their  seats  on  the  promise  of  a  nomination  to  ™°****^ 

*  _  mem- 

the    senate.      These    accommodating    members  bers 

accept   a   postmastership   or   some   other   minor  ^^_* 

office.     Their   seats  thus   become   automatically  mons 
vacant,  and  the  vacancies  are  promptly  filled  by 
the  election  of  the  members  of  the  new  cabinet 
who  were  without  seats  in  parliament. 

In  considering  the  claims  of  the  leaders  of  the  Geo- 
political party  at  Ottawa  and  at  the  provincial  ^f^"^ 
capitals,    the    new    premier    must    also  regard  and 
(i)  the  claims  of  French-Canada;   (2)  the  claims  "^f°"* 
of  the  other  eight  provinces;    (3)  the  claims  of  ditions 
the  English-speaking  population  of  Quebec;    and  ^^^ 
(4)  the  claims  of  the  Roman  Catholic  population  tion  of 
of  the  Dominion  that  is  not  French.  ^  ^®* 

Three  cabinet  or  ministerial  offices  are  usually 
assigned  to  French-Canada.^    The  same  number 

^  At  the  general  election  of  191 1  the  Nationalist  party  of 
Quebec  threw  in  its  lot  with  the  Conservative  party  under 
the  leadership  of  Borden.  The  platform  of  the  Nationalists, 
adopted  at  Eustache,  Quebec,  in  July,  19 10,  declared  against 
any  participation  by  the  Dominion  in  imperial  wars  outside 
Canadian  territory,  and  against  any  attempt  at  recruiting 
troops  in  Canada  for  Great  Britain;  and  expressed  opposi- 
tion to  the  establishment  in  Canada  of  "a  naval  school  with 
the  help,  and  for  the  benefit,  of  imperial  authorities."  The 
Nationalists,  in  the  election  campaign,  also  opposed  any  addi- 
tions to  the  British  fleet  at  the  expense  of  the  Dominion. 
They  carried  eighteen  or  nineteen  seats;  and  as  a  condition 
of  support  of  the  Borden  government  they  demanded 
(i)  that  the  portfolios  of  public  works,  inland  revenue,  and 
the  post  office  be  assigned  respectively  to  Monk,  Nantel,  and 

C  357  ] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

as  a  rule  go  to  Ontario.  At  least  one  cabinet 
office  must,  by  usage,  be  assigned  to  each  of  the 
provinces  of  Nova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick,  Mani- 
toba, Saskatchewan,  Alberta,  and  British  Colum- 
bia; and  since  the  appointment  of  Edward  Kenny, 
of  Nova  Scotia,  in  1869,  as  representative  of  the 
English-speaking  Catholics  ^  no  cabinet  has  been 
long  without  a  representative  of  the  English- 
speaking  Roman  Catholic  church.^ 

There  is  a  custom,  but  not  a  custom  invariably 
followed,  to  assign  certain  cabinet  offices  to  par- 
ticular provinces.  The  department  of  marine 
and  fisheries  is  usually  assigned  to  a  member  from 
one  of  the  tidewater  provinces.    To  a  New  Bruns- 


Pelletier,  all  Nationalist  leaders  in  Quebec;  and  (2)  that  no 
Protestant  from  Quebec  hold  a  portfolio  in  the  cabinet.  Bor- 
den complied  with  these  conditions.  Cf.  H.  C.  Debates, 
January  26,  1917;  Canadian  Pari.  Guide,  1912,  25-26;  and 
Ottawa  dispatch  to  the  Gazettey  Montreal,  dated  November  28, 
1917,  summarizing  J.  S.  Ewart's  reasons  for  supporting  Laurier 
at  the  general  election  of  December  17,  1917. 

1  Cf.  H.  C.  Debates,  February  17,  1871. 

2  The  claim  of  the  English-spefaking  Roman  Catholics  was 
first  recognized  in  the  days  of  the  United  Provinces  —  in  the 
days  of  what  were  described  as  "broad-bottomed  administra- 
tions." (Cf.  Buckingham  and  Ross,  "Life  of  Alexander 
Mackenzie,"  307.)  Like  the  claim  for  recognition  of  English- 
speaking  Roman  Catholics  in  the  senate,  it  has  been  recog- 
nized for  fifty  years  by  both  Liberal  and  Conservative  govern- 
ments. A  politician  of  Irish  extraction  —  almost  invariably 
a  lawyer  and  generally  a  member  of  the  house  of  commons 
from  the  province  of  Quebec  —  usually  represents  the  English- 
speaking  Roman  Catholics  in  the  cabinet. 

C358] 


THE  CABINET 

wick  member  has  several  times  been  assigned  the 
department  of  railways  and  canals.  This  office 
goes  to  a  New  Brunswick  member  because  the 
headquarters  of  the  Intercolonial  Railway  — ■  the 
government  railway  —  are  at  Moncton,  New 
Brunswick;  and,  moreover,  by  far  the  larger  part 
of  the  mileage  of  the  Intercolonial  is  in  the  prov- 
inces of  New  Brunswick  and  Nova  Scotia. 

The  department  of  the  interior,   previous  to   The 
191 7,  was  usually  assigned   to   a  member  from   ^^'t^e 
the   prairie   provinces.      It   went    to   a   member   depart- 
from    the     grain-growing    country    because    the 
government   lands    in    the   organized    provinces, 
as  distinct  from  those  in  the  territories,  are  mostly 
in   the   provinces  which   lie   between   the  Great 
Lakes   and  the    Rocky  Mountains;    and,   more- 
over,  because   the   purpose  of  the  immigration 
propaganda,  under  the  supervision  of  the  depart- 
ment of  the  interior  from  1867  to  191 7,  was  to 
attract  immigration  into  these  provinces. 

A  department  of  immigration  and  colonization   Depart- 
was  created  in  1917.     Following  precedents,  dat-   ^®°' 
ing  back  to  the  early  years  of  Confederation  in    immi- 
regard    to    the    department    at    Ottawa    having   ^°^ 
charge  of  immigration  and  colonization,  the  port-   coiom- 
folio  of  the  new  department  went  to  a  member   ^***°^ 
from  the  prairie  provinces  —  Calder,  of  Saskatche- 
wan. 

All  these  conditions  and  factors  confront  the 
premier  at  Ottawa  when  he  is  forming  his  cabi- 
net;   and  in  recent  years,  certainly  since  1896, 

[359] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Govern-  when  Lauricr  formed  his  cabinet,  the  freedom 
^gg  of  choice  of  a  premier  has  been  further  restricted 
and  the  by  the  claims  of  the  financial  interests  of  Mont- 
°j  ^®  real  and  Toronto,  and  the  tariff  interests  cen- 
minister  tering  in  these  cities,  that  they  have  a  voice  in 
Jj^^j.g       the  selection  of  the  minister  of  finance. 

Laurier  recognized  this  claim  in  1896.     It  is  a 
claim  that  was   also  fully  conceded   by  Borden 
when  he  formed  his  first  cabinet  in  191 1. 
inno-  Distribution  of  cabinet  offices  based   on  geo- 

vations      graphical  considerations,  and   on  claims  of  race, 
usages       religion,   and   special   financial    and    material   in- 
British       terests,    is    an    innovation    on    the    usages    and 
cabinets     traditions  of  cabinets  at  Westminster.     The  in- 
novation   has    been    developed   by  the    differing 
conditions  of  Canada  and  the  United  Kingdom; 
by  the  operation  of  the  federal  principle;    and 
by  the  need  for  conciliating  assertive  interests  — 
racial  and  religious^  —  which  is  as  old  in  Cana- 
dian politics  as  the  ill-assorted  legislative  union 
of  Upper  and  Lower  Canada  of  1 841-1867. 

1  "  Sir  Wilfred  Laurier  is  not  the  only  sinner.  Practically 
every  party  leader  in  Canada  managed  Quebec  as  Sir  Wilfred 
has  managed  that  province.  A  little  more  than  an  equal 
division  of  the  spoils  of  office,  concessions  here  and  conces- 
sions there  to  race  and  creed,  and  there  you  have  the  states- 
manship of  Canadian  premiers  of  both  Conservative  and 
Liberal  stripe."  —  Tribuncy  Winnipeg,  December  20,  1917. 


C360] 


THE  CABINET 


III.    Ministers  without  Portfolio 

Another  innovation  is  the  presence  in  the 
cabinet  at  Ottawa  of  ministers  without  port- 
foHos.  At  Westminster,  from  1832  to  19 14,  there 
were  only  four  cabinets  in  which  there  were 
members  who  held  no  office.  In  the  first  cabinet 
of  the  Dominion  —  1 867-1 872  —  there  was  a 
minister  without  portfolio.  In  every  cabinet 
since  there  has  been  a  minister  to  whom  no  office 
was  assigned,  and  who  consequently  drew  no 
salary.  In  some  cabinets  there  were  two,  or  even 
three,  ministers  without  portfolios.^ 

These  ministers  are  sworn  of  the  king's  privy 
council  for  Canada.  They  attend  cabinet  meet- 
ings and  share  in  the  collective  responsibilty  of 
the  cabinet.  But  as  they  draw  no  salaries  other 
than  their  parliamentary  indemnities,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  criticize  their  actions  in  the  house  of  com- 
mons if  occasion  for  criticism  should  arise. 

In  the  case  of  a  cabinet  minister,  who  is  in 
receipt  of  a  salary,  it  is  possible  to  challenge 
any  action  of  his  by  moving  a  reduction  in  the 
vote  for  the  department  of  which  he  is  the  par- 
liamentary head  when  it  comes  before  the  house 
of  commons  in  committee  of  supply. 

There  have  been  instances  where  the  inclusion 
in  the  cabinet  of  a  minister  without  portfolio 
added   considerably  to  the  debating  strength  of 

^  Cf.  Audet,  "Canadian  Historical  Dates  and  Events," 
113-114- 

C361] 


Ministers 
without 
depart- 
ments 
and 
witliout 
salaries 


House  <A 
com- 
mons 
and 
minis- 
ters 
without 
port- 
folios 


Addi- 
tions to 
debating 
strength 
of 
cabinet 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

the  cabinet  in  parliament.  Notable  instances  of 
this  were  the  inclusion  in  the  Mackenzie  cabinet 
of  1 873-1 878  of  Edward  Blake,  who  was  leader 
of  the  Liberal  opposition  from  1878  to  1890; 
and  the  inclusion  of  Abbott,  afterwards  premier 
of  the  Dominion,  in  the  Macdonald  cabinet  of 
1878-1891. 

No  similar  instances  of  a  cabinet  recruiting 
its  debating  strength  by  the  inclusion  of  a  min- 
ister without  portfolio  occurred  after  Abbott's 
appointment  in  1887.  The  appointments,  in 
more  recent  times,  were  made  (i)  to  secure  for 
the  cabinet  the  aid,  counsel,  and  influence  of 
strong  men,  who  were  not  free  to  devote  them- 
selves entirely  to  politics;  (2)  to  satisfy  the 
claims  of  a  province  which  otherwise  might  not 
be  represented  in  the  cabinet;  and  (3)  to  honor 
a  man  who  had  claims  on  the  party  in  power,  to 
give  him  a  larger  importance  in  the  world  of 
politics,  and  in  the  social  life  of  Ottawa,  than 
would  attach  to  him  if  he  were  only  of  the  rank 
and  file  of  the  government's  supporters  in  the 
house  of  commons  or  the  senate. 

The  dignity,  so  bestowed,  carries  with  it  the 
right  to  the  prefix  "honorable'*  for  life.  It  is 
not  unlike  the  honor  bestowed  on  men  at  West- 
minster who  desire  neither  a  baronetcy  nor  a 
peerage,  but  who  prize  a  summons  to  the  privy 
council,  a  summons  that  carries  with  it  the  rank, 
dignity,  and  title  of  "right  honorable." 

More  than  half  of  the  members  of  the  ministry 

[362] 


THE  CABINET 

at  Westminster  —  the  men  who  hold  subordinate  Ministry 
offices  in  the  government,  and  resign  when  the  '^^^^^^ 
premier  goes  out  of  office  —  are  not  of  the 
cabinet.  At  Ottawa  since  1895,  when  the  bu- 
reaus of  customs  and  inland  revenues  were  made 
departments  of  state,  the  solicitor-general  and  the 
parliamentary  secretaries  of  state  departments  are 
the  only  ministers  who  are  not  in  the  cabinet. 

IV.   Honors  for  Canadian  Premiers  —  Titles  and 
Hereditary  Honors 

Three   of  the    premiers   of  the   Dominion   of  order  of 
Canada  —  Macdonald,   Thompson,   and  Tupper  ?Jj 
—  were  knights  before  they  attained  to  the  pre-   and  st. 
miership.      Mackenzie,    the    Liberal    premier   of  ^®°*^se 
1 873-1 878,  was  three  times  offered  a  knighthood, 
and  on  each  occasion  declined  the  honor.^    Abbott, 
Bowell,  Laurler,  and  Borden,  whose  names  com- 
plete the  list  of  premiers  from  Confederation  to 
the  great  war,  were  all  created  knights  of  the 
Order  of  St.  Michael  and  St.  George,  within   a 
few  months  after  they  had  assumed  office;    and 
for  nearly  half  a  century  a  knighthood  was  re- 
garded at  Ottawa  and  at  Whitehall,  as  the  due  of 
any  man  who  became  premier  of  the  Dominion. 

A  still  greater  distinction  is  usually  bestowed   Membor- 
by  the  sovereign  on  premiers  at  Ottawa.     Mac-   !^^°' 
donald,  Thompson,   Laurler,    and   Borden  were   coxmcu 
each  sworn  of  the  privy  council  at  Whitehall,   f'j?^*®" 
and  thereby  became  "right  honorable." 
^  Cf.  Buckingham  and  Ross,  551. 

C363] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION    OF    CANADA 

A  From    1872  to  the  war,   from  the  time  Mac- 

empire-      donald  became  a  privy  councilor  to  191 5,  a  sum- 
wide         mons  to  the  premier  of  Canada,  or  to  the  premier 
value        ^^  ^"y  other  of  the  five  dominions,  to  the  privy- 
council  was  only  a  method  of  conferring  a  dignity 
empire-wide  in  its  value.    It  gave  a  defined  place 
in  the  order  of  precedence  at  ceremonies  of  state. 
But  it  involved  no  duties  at  Whitehall,  because 
previous  to  the  war  only  men  who  were  of  the 
cabinet  in  Downing  Street  were  called  upon  to 
perform  the  routine   duties  of  privy  councilors. 
The  privy  council  meets  as  a  body  only  on   the 
death  of  the  sovereign. 
Premiers        During  the  war,  Borden,  the  premier  of  Canada, 
domin-      ^"^  ^^^  premiers  of  the  other  four  dominions, 
Ions  attended   meetings   of  the   cabinet   in   Downing 

BritiS*  Street.  A  premier  of  a  dominion  had  never  be- 
cabinet  fore  attended  a  meeting  of  the  British  cabinet. 
Borden's  participation  in  the  cabinet  meetings 
of  July,  191 5,  revolutionized  the  "theory  and 
practice  of  the  system  by  which  the  British 
Empire  had  been  governed  for  more  than  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half."  ^ 
A  war-  A  new  constitutional  link  of  empire  was  thus 

^\f       forged  —  one  of  many  new  links,  constitutional 
empire       and  extra-constitutional,  forged  by  the  war;    and 
from  July,  1915,  a  new  significance  attached  to 
the  fact  that  premiers  of  the  dominions  are  of 
the  privy  council  at  Whitehall. 

The  premier  at  Ottawa,  in  the  years  from  1870 
1  Daily  Telegraph,  London,  July  15,  1915. 

C364] 


THE  CABINET 

to  1 91 8,  was  not  the  only  member  of  the  cabinet   Premier 
distinguished    by    a    knighthood.       There    were   Canada 
usually  three   or   four   knights    in    the    cabinet;   and 
and  knighthoods  in  Canada  were  in  these  thirty-   ^^^^^'^^ 
eight     years     conferred    on    other    men    besides   honors 
those  in  political  hfe.    There  was  a  time  when 
titles  were  conferred  only  at  the  instance  of  the 
colonial  office  in  London.      But  as  the  powers  of 
the  Dominion  cabinet,  under  the  unwritten  part 
of  the  constitution,    were    gradually    extended, 
the  colonial  office  lost  the  sole  initiative  in  the 
bestowal    of    honors    on    men    in    the    oversea 
dominions. 

For    at    least    thirty    years    before    191 8  —  a   Knigkt- 
year   in   which    the    cabinet    and    the   house   of  ^00^^  *<>' 
commons,    following    a    popular    lead    from    the    guished 
constituencies,  adopted  a  new  and  more  demo-    c*°*- 
cratic    attitude    towards    titles  —  it    had    been 
possible  for  the   premier  at  Ottawa  to  make   a 
recommendation,   through   the   governor-general, 
for  the  conferring,  by  the  sovereign,  of  a  knight- 
hood on  any  of  his  colleagues  in  the  cabinet  or 
in   parliament;    on   the   premier   of  a   province; 
on   a  judge  of  the   superior  courts;    on   a  dis- 
tinguished civil  servant;    or  on  any  man  in  the 
political,    scientific,    industrial,    commercial,    or 
journalistic  world   of  the   Dominion,  whom   the 
premier  and  the  cabinet  deemed  worthy  of  such 
distinction. 

In   more  recent  years  baronetcies,   and   in   at 
least  two  cases  peerages,  were  bestowed  on  men 

C365] 


EVOLUTION    OF   THE    DOMINION   OF    CANADA 


Baronet- 
cies and 
peerages 

To  whom 
socially 
ambitious 
politi- 
cians had 
to  look 

PoUtics 
and 

titles  at 
Ottawa 
and 
West- 
minster 


Political 
patron- 
age 


Popular 

attitude 

in 

Canada 

towards 

titles 


domiciled  in  Canada,  on  the  recommendation, 
or  at  least  with  the  sanction  or  approval,  of  the 
premier. 

In  these  years — 1885  to  1918  —  men  who 
were  in  politics,  and  who  were  ambitious  for  a 
title,  expected  recognition  of  their  claims  only 
from  the  premier  of  a  government  of  which 
they  were  supporters  in  or  out  of  parliament. 

Conditions  at  Ottawa  in  this  period  in  this 
respect  were  similar  to  long-existing  conditions 
at  Westminster,  except  that  it  was  never  even 
hinted  at  Ottawa,  that  titles  were  bartered  for 
subscriptions  to  campaign  funds  of  political 
parties;  while  at  Westminster  the  squalid  con- 
nection between  some  knighthoods,  baronetcies, 
and  peerages,  and  the  election  funds  of  political 
parties,  was  notorious  for  nearly  a  generation 
before  the  beginning  of  the  war  in  1914. 

In  Canada,  in  these  years,  the  ability  to  recom- 
mend for  titles  had  popularly  come  to  be  regarded 
as  an  addition  to  the  patronage  in  the  bestowal 
of  the  premier. 

Except  among  candidates  for  these  honors, 
and  among  their  womenfolk,  titles  were  never  in 
esteem  in  Canada.  Knighthoods  for  men  in 
the  front  rank  in  political  life  were  tolerated  as 
incidental  to  the  connection  with  Great  Britain; 
and  they  were  regarded,  moreover,  as  not  disturb- 
ing to  social  order  and  social  conditions  in  the 
Dominion.  But  there  developed  a  widespread 
dislike  of  the  bestowal  of  baronetcies  and  peer- 

C366] 


THE  CABINET 

ages;  for  a  baronetcy  or  a  peerage  descends 
from  father  to  son.  The  title  and  the  distinc- 
tion, in  the  case  of  these  dignities,  do  not  end 
with  the  death  of  the  man  on  whom  they  were 
conferred,  as  is  the  case  with  the  lower  rank  of 
knighthood. 

There  was  a  protest  in  the  house  of  commons    An  up- 
at  Ottawa  in  the  session  of  191 4   against  con-    ^g^st 
ferring  titles  on  Canadians;    and  in   1917,  after    them 
a  baronetcy  had   been   conferred  on   a  resident 
at    Toronto,    long    prominent    as    a    dealer    in 
hog  products  on  a  vast  scale,  and  a  peerage  had 
also  been  bestowed  on  the  owner  of  a  newspaper 
published    in    Montreal,    the    agitation    against 
titles,  begun  in  the  house  of  commons  in  1914, 
extended  itself  east  and  west  from  Ottawa. 

The  question  was  agitated  in  provincial  legisla-   An 
tures;    and   at   conventions  of  church   oreaniza-    *pp®^ 

'  .  *=*  to  the 

tions,  and  of  gram  growers,  farmers,  and  trade    union 
unionists,    resolutions   were    adopted    urging   the    8°^®™- 
then  newly  organized   union   government   to  re- 
frain   from    recommending   Canadians   for   titles 
of  nobility. 

Baronetcies  and   peerages,  in  particular,  were    Baronet- 
condemned   in  these   resolutions,   or  in  the   pre-    L^f,f°^„ 

'  ^  peerages 

ambles  to  the  resolutions,  as  manifestly  out  of   assaUed 
harmony    with    political,    economic,    and    social 
conditions  in  the  Dominion.^ 

^  Cf.  Gazette,  Montreal,  September  10,  1917;  Grain  Growers* 
Guide,  March  14,  1917;  Joseph  Martin,  "The  Menace  of 
Canadian  Titles,"  Maclean's  Magazine,  Toronto,  August,  1917; 

C367] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Prompt  Only  once  before  in  the  history  of  the  Dominion 

res^nse    f^^^  jg^^  ^^  j^jg  j'^  ^  government  at  Ottawa 

govern-  react  to  a  popular  agitation  in  the  constituencies 
°^®°*  as  promptly  as  the  union  government  did  to 
the  war-time  agitation  against  titles.  This  was 
in  1906,  when  the  Laurier  government  repealed 
an  act  passed  by  parHament  in  1905  establishing 
a  pension  system  for  ex-members  of  Dominion 
cabinets. 

It  was  known  at  Ottawa  as  soon  as  the  house 
of  commons  elected  in  December,  1917,  assembled 
before  for  its  first  session  on  March  18,  191 8,  that  there 
commons  ^Quld  be  a  renewal  in  parliament  of  the  agitation 
raise  the  of  1914,  and  of  the  then  more  recent  popular 
question     agitation  of  the  question. 

The  union  government  did  not  wait  for  action 
by  the  house.  It  anticipated  action  in  the  com- 
mons by  adopting  a  minute  of  council,  dated 
March  25  —  a  minute  which  was  subsequently 
transmitted  to  Whitehall  —  in  which  four  recom- 
mendations in  respect  to  the  bestowal  of  titles  on 
Canadians,  domiciled  in  Canada,  were  submitted 
to  the  colonial  office  and  the  imperial  govern- 
ment.    The  recommendations  were: 


Govern 

ment 

acts 


"The  Badge  of  Autocracy,"  Globe,  Toronto,  August  22,  1917. 
"Even  nov*^,"  said  the  Tribune,  Winnipeg,  August  18,  in  com- 
menting on  Martin's  protest  in  Macleans  Magazine,  "these 
peerages  should  be  plucked  out  of  the  life  of  Canada,  and  a 
declaration  made  by  the  parliament  of  our  Dominion  that  the 
democracy  of  which  we  boast  is  real  and  should  remain 
untainted." 

C368] 


THE  CABINET 

1.  No  honour  or  titular  distinction  (saving  those  granted     No  more 
in  recognition  of  military  service  during  the  present  war  or    heredi- 
ordinarily  bestowed    by  the  sovereign   propria    motu)   shall    ^^      ®* 
be  conferred   upon  a  subject  of  his  majesty  ordinarily  resi- 
dent in  Canada  except  with  the  approval  or  upon  the  advice 

of  the  prime  minister  of  Canada. 

2.  The  government  of  the  United  Kingdom  shall  exercise 
the  same  authority  as  heretofore  in  determining  the  charac- 
ter and  number  of  titles  or  honours  to  be  allocated  to 
Canada  from  time  to  time. 

3.  No  hereditary  title  of  honour  shall  hereafter  be  con- 
ferred upon  a  subject  of  his  majesty  ordinarily  resident  in 
Canada. 

4.  Appropriate  action  shall  be  taken,  whether  by  legis- 
lation or  otherwise,  to  provide  that  after  a  prescribed  period 
no  title  of  honour  held  by  a  subject  of  his  majesty  now  or 
hereafter  ordinarily  resident  in  Canada  shall  be  recognized 
as  having  hereditary  effect. 

The  bestowal  of  knighthoods  was  not  ended    Respon- 
by   this    action   of  the   government.     But   with    ^|^^^J^*Jt°^ 
the    far-reaching    reform    so    brought    about    it   for 
became   no   longer   constitutionally   possible   for 
the  cabinet  to  ambush  itself  behind  the  preroga- 
tive of  the  crown,  as  had  been  possible  under  the 
old    procedure     at    Ottawa,    governing     recom- 
mendations   for   honors    made    by   the    premier. 
A    recommendation    for    a    knighthood    is    now 
manifestly  an  act,  in  practice,  by  the  cabinet  — 
an  act  which  can  be  discussed  or  challenged  in 
parliament,    like    any   other   act   for   which   the 
cabinet  is  responsible.^ 

^  Cf.  "Last  Prerogative  Goes,"  5ttn,  Toronto,  April  11, 
1918. 

[369] 


honors 
conferred 


an  aris- 
tocracy 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

The  last  The  reform  of  1918  did  end  the  bestowal  of 
°tt*^**t  baronetcies  and  peerages  on  Canadians  resident 
to  create  in  the  Dominion.  It  ended  the  third  attempt 
since  England  first  obtained  a  foothold  on  the 
northern  half  of  the  American  continent  to  create 
a  titled  aristocracy  in  the  new  world.  These 
attempts  were:  (i)  that  of  James  I  in  1624  to 
establish  the  Order  of  the  Baronets  of  Nova 
Scotia;  (2)  the  attempt  that  Pitt  made  in  the 
Quebec  act  of  1791;  and  (3)  the  much  more 
recent  creation  of  baronetcies  and  peerages  for 
Canadians,  against  which  the  agitation  of 
1914-1918  was  directed.^ 

V.   Reelection  of  Cabinet  Ministers 

Appoint-         Every  member  of  the  cabinet,  who  is  of  the 

ment  to     house  of  commons,  in  accepting  an  office  to  which 

office         a  salary  is  attached,  must  seek  reelection.     The 

Involves     principle  of  the  law  which  requires  reelection  is 

that  members   of  the   house  of  commons,  who 

accept  offices  which  may  be  held  while  they  are 

of  the   house,    must    accept   office   openly,    and 

must  give  their  constituents   an  opportunity  of 

passing  judgment  on  their  acceptance  of  office. 

Origin  of         In   England  the  law  governing  acceptance  of 

office  dates  back  to  1705.    It  is  still  in  force;  and 


law 

requiring 

reelection 


1  Cf.  Discussion  of  motion  by  Nickle,  of  Kingston,  On- 
tario, for  address  to  the  king  asking  that  hereditary  titles 
be  not  conferred  on  Canadians.  H.  C.  Debates,  April  8, 
1918. 

[370] 


re- 
elections 


cabinet 
ministers 


THE  CABINET 

a  similar  law  has  been  in  force  in  Canada  since 
representative  government  was  first  established 
in  Nova  Scotia  in  1758. 

Members  who  have  accepted  office  at  the  for-   Few 
mation  of  a  new  cabinet  are  seldom  put  to  the 
trouble    and    expense    of   a    contested    election,    of 
They   are  often   reelected  without   returning   to 
their   constituencies.      If  a   cabinet   minister   is    con- 
compelled  to  enter  upon  a  contest  for  reelection,    **^***^ 
and  if  he  is  defeated,  it  does  not  follow  that  he 
disappears  from  the  cabinet. 

The   cabinet,    through   the   party   machinery,   Opening 
can  always  "open"  a  safe  constituency.     It  can   ^^j. 
always  induce  one  of  its  supporters  in  the  house   uency 
of  commons  to   relinquish   a  seat  in   the  lower 
house   in   exchange   for  life  membership   of  the 
senate;     and    the    defeated    cabinet    minister   is 
promptly  reinstated  in  the  house  of  commons. 

The  law  making  reelection  a  condition  of  office 
is  continuously  in  force.  At  any  period  in  the 
lifetime  of  a  cabinet,  or  in  the  term  of  a  parlia- 
ment, a  member  of  the  house  of  commons  who 
accepts  cabinet  office  knows  that  he  must  seek 
reelection,  and  that  he  may  have  to  face  a  con- 
test in  his  constituency. 

VI.   Powers,  Functions,  and  Responsibilities 
of  the  Cabinet 

The  formation  of  a  cabinet  is  complete  as  soon   Executive 
as   its  members  have  taken   the  oath  of  office,   ^ 

/.,..,.  .,    Dominion 

and  have  been  sworn  of  the  king  s  privy  council 

[  371  ] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

for  Canada.^  It  immediately  assumes  its  exec- 
utive duties,  and  begins  its  preparations  for 
the  assembling  and  work  of  the  newly-elected 
parliament. 
Governor-  The  Cabinet  is  the  executive  of  the  Domin- 
generai      j^^^       j^  j^  ^j^^  medium   of  all  communications 

and 

cabinet  with  the  governor-general,  who  in  his  turn  is  the 
medium  of  all  communications,  outward  and  in- 
ward, with  the  secretary  of  state  for  the  colonies 
at  Whitehall. 

Minutes         Communications  from  the  cabinet  are  in  the 

oouncu  form  of  minutes  of  council.  Appointments  and 
contracts  are  also  made  by  minutes  of  council. 
Orders-in-council,  which  have  the  force  of  law 
—  orders  which  are  made  under  many  various 
statutes  —  issue  from  the  privy  council,  in  other 
words,  from  the  cabinet. 

Cabinet  Responsibility  for  all  bills  for  raising  revenue, 

and  for  all  the  estimates  that  are  submitted  to 
parliament  providing  for  the  current  expenses  of 
the  Dominion,  lies  with  the  cabinet. 

The  finance  bill,  colloquially  known  as  the 
"budget,"  is  prepared  by  the  minister  of  finance. 

1  Every  man  who  is  sworn  of  the  king's  privy  council  for 
Canada  is  a  privy  councilor  for  life.  The  nine  or  ten  members 
of  the  Borden  cabinet  of  1911-1917  who  retired  in  October, 
1917,  to  facilitate  the  formation  of  a  union-win-the-war 
administration  remained  of  the  privy  council  after  they  had 
ceased  to  be  members  of  the  cabinet.  But  the  privy  council 
at  Ottawa  never  meets  as  a  body,  not  even  on  the  death  of  the 
sovereign.  In  the  working  of  the  constitution  all  the  duties 
of  the  privy  council  are  delegated  to  the  cabinet. 

[372] 


and 
budget 


THE  CABINET 

Each  minister  prepares  or  supervises  the  prepara-  Framing 
tion   of  the  estimates   of  the   department  over  °^, 

budget 

which  he  presides.  But  before  the  bill  of  the 
minister  of  finance  or  the  estimates  for  a  depart- 
ment can  be  submitted  to  the  house  of  commons, 
they  must  receive  the  approval  of  the  cabinet; 
for  the  cabinet  as  a  whole  is  responsible  to  parlia- 
ment for  the  estimates  and  the  budget.^ 

The  same  principle  holds  in  respect  to  govern-   Govern- 
ment bills  concerning  matters  other  than  taxa-   ^°* 
tion  and  expenditure.     It  is  open  to  a  member   framed 
of  the  cabinet,  before  a  government  bill  is  sub-   ^^jj^g^ 
mitted    to    parliament,    to    take   issue   with    his 
colleagues  as  to  the  policy  embodied  in  the  meas- 
ure, or  as  to  its  principle,  or  as  to  details  of  the 
bill.     If  his  colleagues  refuse  to  accept  his  view, 
and  he  persists  in  his  opposition,  constitutional 
usage  demands  that  he  resign. 

It  is  the  constitutional  privilege  of  a  minister   PrivUege 
who  resigns  from  the  cabinet  —  subject  to  the   ^g^^^. 
permission    of    the    governor-general,    which    is    who 
never  withheld  —  to  make  a  statement  from  his   ^^^^^^ 

on 

seat  in  parliament  of  the  reasons  for  his  disagree-   question 
ment  with  his  colleagues,  and  of  the  grounds  on   i^  .  . 
which  he  resigned.    Permission  from  the  governor- 
general  is  necessary,  because  without  it  proceed- 
ings in  privy  council  cannot  be  divulged. 

Only  in  parliament  can  an  ex-cabinet  minister 
make  his  first  statement  of  the  reasons  for  his 
resignation.     The   statement   must   be  made   in 
1  Cf.  Riddell,  "Constitution  of  Canada,"  95-96. 

[373] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

parliament,  in  order  that  an  answer  may  be  forth- 
coming from  the  premier.^ 
Infre-  Resignations  from  the  cabinet  on   account  of 

quency  disagreements  of  ministers  on  questions  of  poHcy, 
resig-  or  as  to  principles  involved  in  government  bills, 
°**^°^  are  infrequent.  There  were  only  five  such  resig- 
nations in  the  twenty  years  preceding  the  war. 
Instances  Two  members  of  the  Bowell  ministry  of  1894- 
resi  -  ^^9^  resigned  in  1895  owing  to  differences 
nations  with  their  colleagues  on  the  Manitoba  school 
°uestion  question.  They  were  differences  arising  out  of 
of  proposed    remedial    legislation    under    the    con- 

principie  tention-bteeding  clause  93  of  the  British  North 
America  act.  These  were  resignations  from  a 
Conservative  administration. 
Section 93  There  were  two  resignations  from  the  Liberal 
*«*^  government  that  was  in  power  from  1896  to  191 1. 
Blair,  of  New  Brunswick,  minister  of  railways 
and  canals,  resigned  in  1904,  because  he  was 
opposed  to  a  bill  for  the  construction  of  a  second 
transcontinental  railway.  In  1905,  Sifton,  min- 
ister of  the  interior,  resigned  owing  to  differences 
with  his  colleagues  over  concessions  to  the  sepa- 
rate school  interests  in  the  bills  creating  the 
provinces  of  Saskatchewan  and  Alberta.  Three 
of  the  five  resignations  between  1894  and  19 14 
were  thus  due  to  issues  originating  in  section  93 
of  the  constitution  of  1867. 

Monk,  of  Quebec,  resigned  from  the  Borden 
cabinet  in  191 2,  because  he  could  not  concur  in 
1  Cf.  H.  C.  Debates,  March  i,  1905. 
[374] 


THE  CABINET 

the  decision  of  the  cabinet  to  make  an  emergency   Navy 
contribution  of  $35,000,000  to  the  British  navy,   ^/^J^ 
"with  the   sanction   of  parliament,  but  without 
giving  the  Canadian  people  an  opportunity  of  ex- 
pressing its  approval  of  this  important  step.*'  ^ 

A  minister  who  persists  in  his  opposition  to  a   Risks 
bill   at  cabinet   stage  sometimes  embarks  on   a   ^^^^_   * 
course  that  may  cost  him  more  than  his  office  nation 
and  his  seat  in  the  council  chamber.     He  may 
break  with   his   party;    find  himself  unwelcome 
at   caucus;     forfeit  his   position    as   almoner  of 
patronage  in  his  electoral  division;  and  jeopardize 
his  seat  in  the  commons  at  the  general  election. 

It   is   recognized,   however,    at  Ottawa,   as   at   Member 
Westminster,  that  there  is  no  place  in  the  cabi-   °^^.    , 

'  *^     .  .  cabinet 

net,  as  it  has  developed  at  Westminster  since  the   must  go 
revolution  of  1688,  and  in  all  the  dominions  since   ^"*^® 

way  with 

1 841,  for  a  member  who  cannot  go  all  the  way  his 
with  his  colleagues  on  any  bill  which  the  cabinet  J^^" 
is  about  to  submit  to  parliament.  A  cabinet 
minister  who  disagrees  with  his  colleagues,  and 
persists  in  disagreeing,  has  no  alternative  but 
resignation;  for  a  bill  submitted  to  parliament 
as  a  government  measure  may  —  often  does  — 
involve  the  fate  of  the  government.  Every  mem- 
ber of  the  cabinet  must,  therefore,  support  it  in 
parliament  by  voice  and  vote. 

There  are  frequently  political  questions  under 
discussion,    both    in    the    constituencies    and    in 
parliament,  concerning  which   the  cabinet,  as   a 
*  "Canadian  Annual  Review,"  1912,  181-182. 

C375] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION  OF  CANADA 

Open        whole,  has  come  to  no  agreement.     These  are 
2"®^"        known   as    "open    questions/'     The  enfranchise- 
ment of  women,  as  it  was   agitated  in   Canada 
from   191 1   to   1916,  is  a  typical   example  of  an 
open  question,  and  of  the  attitude  of  the  cabinet 
in  regard  to  such  questions. 
Enfran-         In   a  debate  on  this  subject  in  the  house  of 
chise-        commons,   in    the  session  of  IQ16,   one  member 

ment  .  . 

of  of    the    cabinet  —  Rogers,    of    Manitoba,    then 

women      minister  of  the  interior  —  spoke  in  favor  of  the 

open  ,  . 

ques-        parliamentary  enfranchisement  of  women;    while 
1916^       Borden,  the  premier,  would  at  that  time  give  the 
movement  no  support;    and  a  motion  in  favor  of 
votes  for  -women  at  Dominion  elections  was  de- 
feated.^    The   minister   of  the   interior,    by   his 
speech,   and   by  his  difference  on  this  question 
with  the    prime    minister,  infringed  no  rule    or 
usage  of  the  cabinet.    The  motion  on  which  the 
speech   was   made   did    not   originate   with    the 
cabinet;     and    woman   suffrage   was    treated    as 
an  open  question. 
Private-         At   this   time  —  February,    1916  —  women    in 
mem-        Manitoba,   Saskatchewan,   and  Alberta  were  in 

ber's  .      '  ,  ' 

motion  posscssion  of  the  right  to  vote  at  all  provincial 
^**^°^  and  municipal  elections.  A  bill  to  the  same  end 
enfran-  had  passed  the  British  Columbia  legislature, 
and  was  awaiting  the  decision  of  the  electors. 
The  motion  that  was  before  the  house  of  commons 
was  for  an  amendment  of  the  Dominion  election 
code  by  which  the  women  enfranchised  by  the 
1  H.  C.  Debates,  February  28,    1916. 

C376] 


chise- 
ment 


THE  CABINET 

provinces  would  have  the  right  to  vote  at  elec- 
tions to  the  house  of  commons. 

Had  the  premier  intimated  when  the  motion  circum- 
was  proposed  that  the  government  would  accept  ^^^^^ 
it,   and  introduce   a   bill  to   amend  the   election    which 

code,    woman    suffrage    would    no    longer    have   °p®° 

•1-1  f  •  ^^^^ 

remamed    m    the    category    oi    open    questions,    tion 

The    amending    bill    would    have    received    the   loses  that 

.  .  status 

approval  of  the  cabinet  before  it  could  have 
been  introduced  into  the  house  of  commons  as 
a  government  measure;  and  in  parliament,  as 
in  the  cabinet,  it  must  have  had  the  approval 
and  support  of  all  the  cabinet  ministers. 

The   duties   of  a   cabinet   minister   are   (i)  to   Duties 
assist  in  council,  and  to  share  in  the  collective   **' .   , 

•     •!•  r      1  1  •  r  cabinet 

responsibility  of  the  cabinet  for  the  acts,  meas-  minister 
ures,  and  policies  of  the  government;  (2)  to 
frame  the  policies  of  his  department,  and  with 
the  aid  of  a  deputy-minister,  a  permanent  civil 
servant,  to  supervise  the  administrative  work  of 
his  department;  (3)  to  receive  deputations  on 
all  matters  connected  with  his  department;  (4)  to 
pilot  through  the  house  of  commons  bills  that 
originate  in  his  department;  (5)  to  carry  the 
estimates  of  his  department  through  committee 
of  supply;  (6)  to  answer  all  questions  in  the 
house  of  commons  concerning  the  policies  and 
activities  of  his  department;  and  (7)  to  support 
and  defend  the  policies  and  measures  of  the  ad- 
ministration in  parliament,  and  when  need  be 
on  the  platform  in  the  constituencies. 

[377  ] 


CHAPTER  XIV 

PARLIAMENT     AT     WORK:      THE 
HOUSE    OF    COMMONS 

Assem-      l^T  EITHER  by  the  constitution,  nor  by  any 
biing         ^'^    j^^  ^£  ^j^g  Dominion,  is  there  a  fixed  time 
pariia-       for   the    assembling   of  parliament,    as   there   is 
^^^*         for  the    assembling  of  congress  at  Washington, 
deter-        "There  shall,"  reads  the  British  North  America 
^^^       act,  "be  a  session  of  parliament  once  at  least  in 
every  year;    so  that  twelve  months   shall  not 
intervene  between  the  last  sitting  of  the  parlia- 
ment in  one  session   and  its  first  sitting  in  the 
next  session."     The  financial  year  of  the  Do- 
minion   ends  on    March  31,  and   this    condition 
practically  determines  the  time  at  which  a  new 
session  of  parliament  begins. 
Con-  Parliament  is  convened  by  proclamation,  issued 

vened  ^^  ^^^  governor-general.  The  date  of  its  assem- 
procia-  bly  is  determined  by  the  cabinet,  on  whose  advice 
mation  ^j^^  governor-general  issues  the  proclamation. 
The  sessions  in  normal  years  extend  from  Novem- 
ber until  April  or  May. 
Organ-  At   the  assembling   of  a  new  parliament   the 

^^         house  of  commons  is  without   a   speaker.     The 
house        continuing  officers  of  the   house   are   the   clerk, 
the    assistant    clerk,    and    the    sergeant-at-arms. 
Much  of  the  work  preliminary  to  the  organiza- 

C378] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

tion  of  the  house  is,  by  usage,  delegated  to  the 
clerk.  The  newly-elected  members  take  the  oath  ^ 
and  sign  the  roll  at  the  table  in  the  chamber  of 
the  commons  in  the  presence  of  the  clerk;  and 
until  a  speaker  has  been  elected,  the  clerk  is  the 
presiding  officer. 

I.    The  Speaker  and  His  Office 

The  speaker  is  the  chairman  of  the  commons  Duties 
for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  order  and  declar-  °  ^^^^ 
ing  or  interpreting  the  rules  of  the  house.  He  is 
also,  unless  the  house  otherwise  directs,  the 
spokesman  and  representative  of  the  house  in 
all  communications  made  in  its  collective  capac- 
ity to  the  crown. 

At  Ottawa  the  position  of  the  speaker  as  re-   Speaker's 
gards   political   parties   is   midway   between   the   ^^^*" 
position  of  the  speaker  at  Washington  and  that   with  his 
of  the  speaker  at  Westminster.    At  Westminster   ^*^ 
the  speaker,  as  soon   as  he  has  been  elected  to 
the   chair,   ceases   to   be   a  partisan.     He  never 
enters  a  political  club.    Unlike  every  other  mem- 
ber of  the  house  of  commons  he  makes  no  political 
address  when  he  seeks  reelection  from  his  con- 
stituency at  a  general  election.     He  never  pub- 
licly discusses  politics.     He  is  outside  the  arena 
of  political  parties.     He  serves  for  two  or  three 
parliaments,  or  for  as  long  as  he  can  stand  the 

*  "I  do  swear,"  reads  the  oath,  "that  I  will  be  faithful 
and  bear  true  allegiance  to  his  majesty  King  George  V." 

[379] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Speaker 
at 

West- 
minster 


Speaker 
at 

Washing- 
ton 


Cabinet 

and 

choice 

of 

speaker 

at 

Ottawa 


Strain  and  burden  of  an  exceedingly  arduous 
office. 

It  is  a  tradition  at  Westminster  of  now  a  hun- 
dred years'  standing  that  a  speaker  must  not 
continue  of  the  house  of  commons  after  the  end 
of  his  service  in  the  chair.  For  a  century  it  has 
been  regarded  as  incompatible  with  the  dignity 
of  the  chair  that  a  speaker  should  fall  back 
into  the  rank  and  file  of  the  house;  and  since 
Addington  vacated  the  speakership  to  become 
chancellor  of  the  exchequer  and  premier  of  the 
administration  of  1 801-1804,  ^^  speaker  at  West- 
minster has  ever  resigned  to  accept  office  in  the 
cabinet.  A  peerage  and  a  pension  have  been 
the  rewards  of  speakers  at  Westminster  since 
the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

At  Washington  the  speakership  goes  to  the 
leader  of  the  party  that  is  in  a  majority  in  the 
house  of  representatives,  and  after  election  to 
the  chair  he  continues  as  leader  of  his  party. 
Service  in  the  chair  at  Washington,  moreover, 
has  frequently  been  a  stepping  stone  to  the 
position  of  candidate  at  national  conventions  for 
the  presidency  of  the  United  States. 

The  choice  of  speaker  at  Ottawa,  as  at  West- 
minster, lies  with  the  cabinet.  An  election  to 
the  chair  is  not  made  by  the  house  acting  quite 
apart  from  the  government,  although  at  West- 
minster the  usage  is  that  the  nomination  of 
speaker  must  not  be  moved  in  the  house  of  com- 
mons by  any  member  of  the  cabinet. 

[380] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

There  is  no  such  usage  at  Ottawa.    The  nomi-   Premier 
nation  is  moved  by  the  premier,  who,  almost  in-   5^*^^^^ 
variably,  is  of  the  commons  and  is  leader  for  the   of 
government  in  the  house.   It  is  sometimes  seconded   ^p®^®' 
by  another  member  of  the  cabinet,  and  usually 
supported  by  the  leader  of  the  opposition.     At  the 
time  these  speeches  are  made  —  always  speeches 
emphasizing  the  importance  and  dignity  of  the 
office  and  the  eligibility  and  fitness  of  the  member 
nominated  —  the   chair  is  without  an  occupant. 

The  mace,  the  symbol  of  the  office,  is  absent   Function 
from  the  table  in  front  of  the  chair.     Members,   °1  *^^®^^ 

at 

accordingly,   address   their  remarks   by  name  to    election 
the  clerk  at  the  table;    for  the  clerk  must  desig-   °'   , 

1  •      •  L  1  •        •         1     •       speaker 

nate,  by  pointing  to  them  as  they  rise  in  their 
seats,  the  members  who  have  the  floor  to  move, 
to  second,  and  to  support  the  nomination.^ 

A  division  is  seldom  taken  on  the  motion  for   divi- 
the  election  of  speaker.    Rarely  is  a  second  candi-   ^°^ 
date  nominated;   for  the  opposition  is  aware  that   election 
a  nomination  to  the  chair,  moved  by  the  premier,   °* 
will  be  supported  by  the  full  strength  of  the  gov- 
ernment in  the  house  of  commons. 

The  member  elected  as  speaker  at  Ottawa  is    Quaiifi- 
seldom  of  the  leaders  of  his  political   party,  al-   <^tions 
though  in  addition  to  his  obvious  mastery  of  the   speaker 
rules  and  procedure  of  the  house,  and  his  ability 
to  preside,  he  must  have  established  some  claims 
on  his  party. 

1  Cf.  election  of  Edgar  Rhodes  as  speaker,  H.  C.  Debates, 
January  18,  1917. 

C381] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Speaker         In   the   chair  he   must   be  non-partisan   in  his 

attend°*     tulings  and   in  his  recognition  of  members  who 

caucus       desire   to    address   the   house.      He   must   favor 

neither  the  government  nor  the  opposition.     He 

does  not  go  into  party  caucus;    and  in  no  sense 

is  he  a  leader  of  his  party. 

Speaker's       It  is  not,  howevet,  the  usage  at  Ottawa,  as  it 

^ti^n       ^^  ^^  Westminster,  that  the  speaker  shall  com- 

withhis      pletely   sever   himself  from   his   political   party. 

^^^         Speakers  make  political  addresses  in  their  own 

constituencies   and   elsewhere.     They   distribute 

government    patronage    in    their    constituencies, 

like   all  other  members   elected   to   support  the 

government;    and  there  have  been  instances  — 

one   as   recent   as   January,    1917  —  in   which   a 

speaker  has  vacated  the  chair  in  order  to  accept 

office  in  the  cabinet. 


II.   Speakers  Alternately  from  English-Speaking 
and  French-Speaking  Canada 

On©  One  reason  for  the  larger  freedom   at  Ottawa 

o^for  ^^  ^^^  speakers  there,  unlike  speakers  at  West- 
speaker  minster,  serve  only  during  the  lifetime  of  one 
parliament.  Conditions  at  Ottawa,  partly  due  to 
race  and  language,  and  partly  to  long-prevailing 
ideas  as  to  the  distribution  of  all  government 
patronage,  have  militated  against  the  Westminster 
precedent  of  continuing  a  member  in  the  chair 
for  two  or  three  parliaments,  regardless  of  the 
fortunes  of  political  parties  at  general  elections. 

C382] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

There  is  a  new  speaker  at   Ottawa  for  each   Division 
new  house  of  commons;    and  it  has  Ions;  been  a   °L 

°        .  offices 

custom  that  when  one  poHtical  party  continues   between 
in   power  for  two  or   three   parliaments,   if  the   ^^ 
speaker  in  one  parhament  is  of  British  extraction 
the  next  one  shall  be  a  French-Canadian. 

It  is  a  rule  also  that  the  offices  of  speaker  and  Deputy- 
of  deputy-speaker  can  at  no  time  be  held  by  men  ^p®^*' 
of  the  same  race.  If  the  speaker  is  a  French- 
Canadian,  the  deputy-speaker,  who  is  also  chair- 
man of  committees,  must  be  an  English-speaking 
Canadian;  for  the  rule  of  the  house  is  that  "the 
member  elected  to  serve  as  deputy-speaker  shall 
be  required  to  possess  the  full  and  practical 
knowledge  of  the  language  which  is  not  that 
of  the  speaker  for  the  time  being."  ^ 

The  clerkship   and   the  assistant  clerkship  of  clerks 
the   house,   and   the  offices   of  sergeant-at-arms   *°** 
and  deputy-sergeant-at-arms  —  all  appointive  as   geants- 
distinct    from    elective   offices  —  are,    by    usage,   *t-a™i» 
also  similarly  divided  between  the  two  races. 

Nearly  all  the  offices,  important  and  unimpor-  Minor 
tant,  connected  with  parliament,  with  the  senate 
as  well  as  with  the  house,  are  distributed  in  accord- 
ance with  these  rules  or  usages.  A  roll  call  of 
the  staffs  of  the  two  houses,  including  even  the 
boys  in  knickerbockers  who  act  as  pages,  would 
contain  the  names  of  almost  as  many  French- 
Canadians  as  Canadians  of  British  ancestry. 

*  Rules  of  the  H.  of  C,    1909,  7;    "Canadian  Annual 
Review/'  191 1,  304. 

[383] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Origin  The  rules  and  usages  by  virtue  of  which  this 

division      distribution  of  offices  is  made  are  older  than  Con- 
of  offices    federation.     They  date  back  to  the  early  years 
of  the  United  Provinces,  when  Quebec  and  On- 
tario elected  exactly  the  same  number  of  mem- 
'  bers  to  the  legislature,  and  when  these  were  the 
only  provinces  in  the  union. 
French  Quebec  today  elects  only  65  of  the  234  members 

2^^  of  the  house  of  commons.  Its  population  is  not 
equal  One  foutth  of  the  population  of  the  Dominion, 
division      j^g  contribution  to  Dominion  revenues  does  not 

or 

offices  exceed  one  sixth.  But  an  equal  division  of  the 
offices  of  the  house  of  commons  is  regarded  by 
Quebec  as  necessary  to  the  preservation  of  its 
rights  and  privileges;  and  so  long  as  each  political 
party,  when'  it  is  in  power,  is  dependent  on  sup- 
port from  French-Canada,  it  will  be  nearly  as 
difficult  to  ignore  the  claim  of  Quebec  to  these 
parliamentary  honors  and  offices  as  it  would  be 
to  repeal  the  clause  in  the  British  North  America 
act  that  safeguards  the  separate  schools  system. 

III.    The  Crown  and  the  Speaker  —  The  Crown 

and  the  House 

Pledges         As  soon  as  the  motion  for  the  election  of  the 

j^^®         speaker  has  been  carried,  the  speaker,  addressing 

speaker      the  house,  not  from  the  chair,  but  from  the  steps 

to   the   chair,    pledges   himself  to   maintain   the 

rights  and  privileges  of  the  commons,  and  asks 

the  aid  of  all  his  colleagues  in  so  doing.    He  then 

takes  the  chair,  and  the  sergeant-at-arms,  who 

C384] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

is  the  custodian  of  the  mace,  lays  the  mace  on 
the  table. 

Even  yet  the  house  is  not  completely  organ-   Approval 
ized.    Another  step  must  be  taken  before  all  the   f  g^^j. 
constitutional  usages  have  been  observed.     The   by 
crown  must  approve  of  the  choice  which  the  house   ^°^^ 
has  made  of  speaker. 

For  this  purpose  the  commons  are  summoned    state 
by  black  rod  to  the  bar  of  the  senate.    They  go   ^^J'^j^ 
in  procession  from  their  chamber  to  that  of  the   senate 
senate.     In  this  procession  the  sergeant-at-arms, 
bearing  the  mace,  goes  first,  closely  followed  by 
the  speaker,  who  is  attended  by  a  group  of  his 
fellow-members  of  the  house  of  commons. 

At  the  bar  of  the  senate  the  speaker  announces  Speaker 
his  election  to  the  governor-general,  and  submits  ^^^^^ 
himself,  as  is  the  custom  at  Westminster,  "with 
all  humility,'*  for  the  approbation  of  the  crown. 
Approval  and  confirmation  are  announced  from 
the  throne;  and  the  speaker  then  demands  "the 
ancient  and  undoubted  rights  and  privileges  of  the 
commons."  These  are  granted,  and  the  speaker 
and  his  retinue  return  to  the  house  of  commons. 

At  the  opening  session  of  a  new  parliament   House 
the  house  of  commons  has  still  one  more  duty  to   ^^^^^ 
discharge  before  it  is  ready  to  consider  the  speech   inde- 
from  the  throne  with  which  every  new  session  is   p®"*^®^*^® 
opened.     Following  a  usage  of  the  house  of  com-   crown 
mons   at  Westminster,  which  can   be  traced   at 
least  as  far  back  as  1558,^  the  house  of  commons 
*  Porritt,  "Unreformed  House  of  Commons,"  I,  543. 

C385] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

at  Ottawa  reads  a  bill  in  order  to  assert  its  right 

of  deliberation  without  reference  to  the  cause  of 

summons    as   stated    in   the   royal   proclamation 

convening  parliament,  or  to  the  business  to  which 

the  attention  of  parliament  has  been  directed  in 

the  speech  from  the  throne. 

Biu  No.  1       A  dummy  bill,  long  known  at  Ottawa  as  "  Bill 

No.  I,"  "respecting  the  administration  of  oaths 

of  office,"  is  handed  by  the  clerk  to  a  member  on 

the  treasury  benches,  —  the  benches  on  which  sit 

the  members  of  the  cabinet, — who  introduces  it  to 

the  house,  and  moves  that  it  be  read  a  first  time.^ 

Dis-  No   further   progress   is   ever   attempted   with 

appear-      g-jj  -|^^    ^      j^  disappears  from  the  order  paper 

of  of  the  house  the  day  after  it  has  been  read  a 

BUI  No.  1    £j.g^  time,  and  is  not  seen  or  heard  of  again  until 

the  opening  of  the  next  session  of  parliament, 

when   it   is   once   more   brought   out   from   cold 

storage  to  serve  its  purpose  as  an  assertion  on 

the  part  of  the  house  of  its  independence  of  the 

crown. 

IV.    The  Leader  of  the  Opposition 

Leader  Organization  of  the  house  is  not  complete  until 

°*  !^^_.     another  and  an  extra-constitutional  step  has  been 

majesty  s  .  . 

oppo-  taken.  The  leader  of  his  majesty's  opposition 
has  yet  to  be  elected.  A  salary  of  $yooo  a  session 
has,  since  1905,  been  paid  to  the  leader  of  the 
opposition,  in  addition  to  the  allowance  of  $2500 
that  he  receives  as  member  of  the  house.     Pay- 

1  Cf.  H.  C.  Debates,  January  19,  1917. 

C386] 


sition 


at 
caucus 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

ment  of  a  salary  to  the  leader  of  the  opposition 
is  an  innovation  on  the  usage  at  Westminster. 
It  is,  so  far  as  the  British  Empire  is  concerned, 
an  innovation  peculiar  to  the  house  of  commons 
of  Canada.^ 

The  method  by  which  the  leader  of  the  opposi-  Elected 
tion  is  chosen  is  also  an  innovation  on  procedure 
at  Westminster.  He  is  elected  at  a  caucus  which 
is  attended  only  by  the  members  of  the  opposi- 
tion in  the  house  of  commons.  Senators  who  are 
of  the  opposition  do  not  attend  the  caucus;  and 
except  very  infrequently  senators,  whether  sup- 
porters of  the  government  or  of  the  opposition, 
take  no  part  in  caucuses  held  in  the  commons 
wing  of  the  parliament  building. 

The  caucus  is  an  extra-constitutional  institu-   impor- 
tion  which  has  never  been  established  at  West-  ]^^°°^ 

rrom 

minster  by  either  of  the  two  historic  parties  in   washing- 
British  politics.     In  Canada  it  is  admittedly  an   *°° 
importation  from  the  United  States. 

It  was  well  established  in  the  era  of  the  United 
Provinces  at  least  as  early  as  1854;^  and  it  was 
generally  in  use  in  the  United  Provinces,  in  the 
constituencies  as  well  as  at  Ottawa,  at  Con- 
federation. 

*  "This  affords  a  not  very  remote  analogy  with  the  advo- 
catus  diaboli  in  courts  which  are  to  pass  upon  the  proposed 
canonization  of  a  saint  —  and  to  the  employment  and  pay- 
ment by  the  state  of  counsel  for  an  accused  upon  his  trial.'* 
—  Riddell,  "Constitution  of  Canada,"  107. 

*  Cf.  Buckingham  and  Ross,  121. 

C  387  ] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Cabinet  Both  the  party  supporting  the  government  and 

MUCUS  ^^^  party  in  opposition  maintain  the  caucus 
system.  Members  of  the  cabinet,  who  are  of  the 
house  of  commons,  discuss  in  the  caucus  of  their 
party  the  poHcies,  bills,  plans,  and  sometimes  the 
appointments  of  the  government. 

In  the  caucus  of  the  opposition  at  the  opening 
of  the  first  session  of  a  new  parliament,  the 
leader  of  the  party  in  the  house  of  commons  is 
elected,  and  the  attitude  to  be  taken  towards 
government  measures  and  policies  is  determined. 
Caucus  The  caucus  at  Ottawa,  while  admittedly  pat- 

beidnd       terned    after    the   caucus    at   Washington,    is    at 
closed        least  one  stage  behind  the  caucus  of  the  house 
doors         ^£  representatives  in  development.     The  constit- 
uents  of  a   member  of  the   house   of  commons 
have  as  good  a  constitutional  right  to  be  informed 
of  what  he  says  and  how  he  votes  in  caucus,  as 
of  his  speeches  and  votes  in  the  house  of  commons. 
No  At  Washington  since   1913  this  right  of  con- 

*°nd"e  stituents  has  been  recognized.  Representatives 
report  of  the  press  are  admitted  to  caucus.  At  Ottawa 
°^**®         the   rights  of  constituents   in   this   matter  have 

pro-  .° 

ceedings  been  ignored  for  fifty  years.  A  caucus  is  always 
held  behind  closed  doors;  and  there  is  no  full 
and  independent  public  record  of  its  proceedings, 
as  there  is  of  debates  and  votes  in  the  house  of 
commons. 

The  act  of  parliament  of  1905  which  authorizes 
the  payment  of  a  salary  to  the  leader  of  the  oppo- 
sition, when  it  was  before  the  house  as  a  bill, 

[388] 


conten- 
tious 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

was    treated    as    an    agreed    or    non-contentious    Salary 
measure.     It  was  a  bill  for  increasing  the  allow-   °|'®*^®^ 
ances  of  members   and   senators  from  $1500  to    oppo- 
$2500;     establishing    pensions   of  ^3500    a   year    ^^*^°^ 
for  ex-members  of  the  cabinet;  ^    and  providing 
a  salary  for  the  leader  of  the  opposition. 

All  the  details  of  the  bill  had  been  agreed  on   Anon- 
at  a  caucus  of  the  supporters  of  the  government, 
and  at  a  caucus  of  the  members  of  the  opposition;   bui 
and  as  both  political  parties  were  satisfied  with 
all  its  provisions,  the  measure  fell  into  the  cate- 
gory of  non-contentious  bills. 

The  circumstances  under  which  the  bill  was  An  era 
submitted  to  the  house  by  the  government  —  feeiln**^ 
the  era  of  good  feeling  in  which  it  was  born  — 
explain  the  brevity  and  looseness  of  the  section 
by  virtue  of  which  the  salary  of  the  leader  of  the 
opposition  is  paid.  It  neither  defines  an  opposi- 
tion, nor  indicates  by  whom  and  how  the  leader 
of  the  opposition  shall  be  chosen. 

All  that  the  section  declares  is  that  **to  the   a  vague 
member    occupying    the    recognized    position    of  ^^^^ 
leader  of  the  opposition  in  the  house  of  commons   worded 
there   shall   be   payable    an    additional   sessional 
allowance  of  $7000." 

There  is  no  provision  in  the  law  for  a  certificate   Warrant 
of  election,  nor  for  a  report  to  the  house  of  com 
mons  of  the  result  of  the  election.    The  member   of 
elected  in  caucus  takes  his  seat  on  the  bench  on    ^"^ 

^  The   pension   section  of  the  act  of  1905    aroused  wide- 
spread popular  indignation,  and  was  repealed  in  1906. 

C389] 


section 


for 
payment 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE   DOMINION    OF    CANADA 

the  opposition  side  of  the  house,  assigned  by 
custom  to  the  leader  of  the  opposition,  and  his 
appearance  there  is  the  warrant  for  the  payment 
of  the  salary. 

V.    The  Seating  of  the  House  —  Grouping  of 
Parties 

Descrip-         The  chamber  in  which  the  commons  hold  their 
^^  sittings  is  oblong.^     It  is   divided  by  a  spacious 

chamber  aisle  extending  from  the  main  entrance  —  the 
entrance  at  which  the  bar  is  erected,  and  at 
which  the  sergeant-at-arms  is  stationed  —  to  the 
clerk's  table  and  the  speaker's  chair,  which  is  on 
a  dais  nearly  the  height  of  the  table. 
Treasury  Members  sit  at  desks  in  rows  on  each  side  of 
the  aisle,  rows  which  rise  in  tiers  running  back 
to  the  ends  of  the  chamber.  In  the  front  row, 
to  the  speaker's  right,  sit  the  members  of  the 
cabinet.  The  most  commanding  place  in  the 
row  is  assigned  to  the  premier,  who  is  the  leader 
of  the  house.  By  unwritten  law  the  desks  in  this 
front  row  are  always  occupied  by  ministers,  as 
active  members  of  the  privy  council.  In  the  rows 
rising  behind  sit  members  who  were  elected  to 
support  the  government. 

^  The  chamber  of  the  commons,  also  that  of  the  senate, 
as  well  as  many  offices  in  parliament  house,  were  destroyed 
by  fire  on  February  3,  1916.  A  new  and  enlarged  parliament 
house,  on  the  site  of  the  old  building,  was  being  erected  at 
the  time  this  study  of  the  evolution  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada 
was  in  preparation. 

C  390  ] 


bench 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

The  desks  in  the  front  row  to  the  speaker's   Front 
left  are  occupied  by  the  leaders  of  the  opposition.    °^ 
As  members  of  a  previous  cabinet,  they  have  a   bench 
prescriptive   right  to  these  places,  because  they 
also  are  of  the  privy  council  for  Canada,  although 
on  their  ceasing  to  act  as  ministers  they  no  longer 
attend  at  council. 

Cabinet  ministers  thus  face  the  leaders  of  the  Rank 
opposition.     They    are    almost   near   enough    to  ^^^ 
them  to  carry  on  a  conversation  in  a  whisper   oppo- 
across  the  aisle.     The  rank  and  file  of  the  oppo-  ^^'^^^ 
sition   occupy  the   rows   of  desks   behind   those 
assigned  to  their  leaders. 

At  Westminster  members  of  the  government  cierk 
and  the  leaders  of  the  opposition  speak  from  the  ^^ 
clerk's  table  that  serves  as  a  division  between  the 
treasury  bench  and  the  front  opposition  bench. 
No  such  use  is  made  of  the  table  at  Ottawa. 
It  is  reserved  for  the  clerk  and  the  assistant  clerk, 
and  as  the  place  of  the  mace  while  the  house  is 
in  session  and  the  speaker  is  in  the  chair. 

The  mace  is  on  the  table  only  at  such  times,   with- 
When    the    house    is    in    committee,    and    the   ^^^^ 

of  mace 

presiding  officer  is  the  chairman  of  committees   in 
and   not   the  speaker,  the   mace  is   taken  from   ^™^ 
the  table. 

The  larger  use  of  the  table  of  the  house  of  com- 
mons at  Westminster  —  its  centuries'  long  use 
as  the  place  from  which  ministers  and  leaders 
of  the  opposition  address  the  house  —  is  due  to 
the  difference  in  seating  of  the  two  chambers. 

C391] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Termi- 
nology of 
West- 
minster 
In  use  at 
Ottawa 


Privilege 
of  floor 


Govern- 
or- 
general 
and  the 
house 


Only  benches  are  provided  for  members  of  the 
house  of  commons  of  the  mother  of  parhaments. 

At  Ottawa  every  member  is  provided  with  a 
chak  and  a  desk;  and  it  is  from  their  desks  that 
members  address  the  house.  This  difference 
in  furnishing  has  not,  however,  prevented  the 
adoption  at  Ottawa  of  terms  descriptive  of  parts 
of  the  chamber  in  use  at  Westminster  since  gov- 
ernment by  party  was  estabhshed  there  more 
than  two  centuries  ago.  Despite  the  absence  of 
benches,  the  row  of  desks  at  which  members  of 
the  cabinet  sit  is  described  as  the  "treasury 
bench";  and  the  row  to  the  left  of  the  speaker 
as  the  "  front  opposition  bench." 

The  privilege  of  the  floor  of  the  house  of  com- 
mons is  much  more  restricted  than  that  of  the 
house  of  representatives  at  Washington.  It  is 
nearly  as  closely  restricted  as  at  Westminster, 
where  a  stranger  is  never  permitted  beyond  the 
bar.  At  Ottawa  the  privilege  is  not  granted  to 
senators  or  to  ex-members  of  the  house,  nor  is 
it  extended  to  visitors,  however  distinguished, 
except  by  motion  adopted  by  the  house.  The 
floor  is  reserved  for  members,  and  for  such  of  the 
house  of  commons  staff"  whose  duties  make  it 
necessary  that  they  pass  inside  the  bar. 

A  gallery  facing  the  speaker*s  chair  is  reserved 
for  the  family  and  entourage  of  the  governor- 
general.  It  is  part  of  the  unwritten  constitution 
of  the  United  Kingdom  that  the  King  must  not 
be  present  at  a  sitting  of  the  house  of  commons. 

[392] 


THE  HOUSE  OF   COMMONS 

The  governor-general  is  the  representative  of  the 
crown  in  Canada,  and  as  such  he  must  never  be 
present  in  the  house  of  commons  at  Ottawa. 


VI.  The  Housey  the  Public,  and  the  Press 

There  are  galleries  on  all  four  sides  of  the  cham-  Public 
her,  all  freely  open  to  visitors.  A  motion  can  be  ^  ®  ®* 
made  by  a  member  at  any  time  that  the  speaker 
order  strangers  to  withdraw.  Not  more  than 
two  or  three  times  in  the  first  half-century  of 
Confederation  were  strangers  excluded  from  the 
galleries. 

The  press  gallery  is  immediately  above  the  Press 
speaker's  chair.  One  custom  of  this  gallery  is  *^*^ 
peculiar  to  Ottawa  among  press  galleries  in 
parliaments  of  the  English-speaking  world.  Re- 
porters representing  newspapers  which  support 
the  government  sit,  like  the  government  members, 
to  the  speaker's  right.  Reporters  for  opposition 
newspapers  sit  to  the  left  of  the  chair. 

After   a   general   election   which   has   involved   Political 
a  change  of  government,  reporters,  like  members,   ^^^^ 
change   sides   in  the   chamber.     The   custom   in   press 
accordance  with  which    this  change  of  seats  in 
the  press  gallery  is  made  illustrates  relations  long 
existing  between   political  parties  and  the  press. 

Canada  is  a  country  of  many  newspaper  organs   Party 
and  singularly  few  independent  journals.     There   °*"^*°' 
are  not  more  than  three  or  four  politically  inde- 
pendent daily  newspapers  in  all  the  cities  from 

C393] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Halifax  to  Vancouver.     Only  in  these  few  news- 
papers is  there  independent  eulogy  or  criticispi 
of  the  government  or   of  the  opposition.     The 
other  daily  newspapers  are  organs,  either  of  the 
party  in  office  or  of  the  party  out  of  office. 
Govern-         Conservative  newspapers,  during  a  tenure  of 
re^ds     power  by  the  Conservative  party,  are  rewarded 
for  by   the   bestowal    of  cabinet   office   or    senator- 

^^^^^        ships  on  the  controlling  owners;  by  knighthoods 
owners       and    Other   titular   honors;    by  the    distribution 
of  government  patronage  to   owners  or  editors; 
by    orders    for    government    printing;     and    by 
government  advertising. 
Widely  At   the   end   of  the   term   of  a   Conservative 

^eT^"      government    there    is    scarcely    a    Conservative 
lar-  daily  newspaper  organ  whose  owners  and  editors 

^®^^  have  not  received   some  reward  or  largess  from 

the  government.  With  a  change  of  government, 
favors  to  Conservative  newspapers  come  to  an 
abrupt  end.  It  then  becomes  the  turn  of  the 
Liberal  newspaper  organs  to  receive  similar 
honors  and  rewards. 
Press  Any  policy  or  measure  of  the  government,  or 

any  policy  of  the  opposition,  which  secures  the 
indorsement  of  the  party  caucus,  is,  as  a  result 
of  these  close  and  long-standing  relations  between 
political  parties  and  the  press,  certain  of  the  eulogy 
and  support  of  the  newspaper  organs  of  the 
party. 

For  eighteen  years  the  Liberal  party  contin- 
uously opposed  the  protectionist  tariffs  enacted 

C394] 


and 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

at  the  instance  of  the  Conservative  governments   organs 
of  1 878-1 896,  and  also  opposed  a  system  of  boun-   ^® 
ties  for  industries  that  had  been  established  by   cue 
the  Conservatives.     A  Liberal  government  came   ^^g 
into  power  in  1896;  and  in  1897,  bills  were  framed 
by   the    cabinet    continuing    and    extending   the 
protectionist    tariff,    and   also  greatly  extending 
the  system  of  bounties  for  the  iron  and  steel  in- 
dustry which  the  Conservative  government  had 
begun  in  1883. 

Both  these  bills  —  bills  which  completely  re-   a 
versed  the  fiscal  policy  of  the  Liberals  during  their   "^^^ 
eighteen    years    of    opposition  —  were    indorsed    by 
by  a  caucus  of  the  Liberal  members  of  the  house   ^^^^^ 

.      .  .  organs 

of  commons;  and  within  a  few  days  this  complete,  ini897- 

unexpected,  and  startling  change  of  policy  had  ^^®^ 
received    the   indorsement    and    support   of  the 
Liberal  organs  in  all  the  nine  provinces. 

From  Confederation  to  191 1  the  Conservative  voite 
party    advocated    reciprocity    with    the    United  ^J*'® 
States.     In  three  of  its  tariff  acts  the  Conserv-  conserv- 
ative   government  inserted    sections  which    pro-  ***^® 

,  .  organs 

vided   that   as   soon    as   Canadian   farm,   forest,   in  1911 
and  mineral  products  were  admitted  free  of  duty 
into  the  United  States,  similar  products  of  the 
United  States  should  be  admitted  duty  free  into 
Canada. 

Three  or  four  times  in  the  years  from  1867  to   conserv- 
191 1   members  of   Conservative  administrations   **^^® 
journeyed  from  Ottawa  to  Washington   to  urge   reciproc- 
governments  there  to   accept  the  long-standing   ^^ 

.  C  395  ] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Reciproc- 
ity 

aban- 
doned 
by 

Conserv- 
atives 
in  1911 


Conserv- 
ative 
organs 
follow 
Ottawa 
lead 


offers  of  reciprocity  embodied  in  Canadian  tariffs; 
and  during  these  thirty-four  years  organs  of  the 
Conservative  party  never  ceased  to  emphasize  the 
importance  of  reciprocity  to  the  farmers,  lumber- 
men, miners,  and  fishermen  of  the  Dominion. 

In  the  United  States  tariff  act  of  1910,  the 
government  at  Washington  proclaimed  its  willing- 
ness to  establish  reciprocity,  not  by  treaty,  as  in 
1854,  but  by  concurrent  legislation.  The  Liberal 
government  of  1 896-191 1  promptly  and  cordially 
accepted  the  long-desired  overtures  from  Washing- 
ton. Resolutions  preliminary  to  a  bill  to  make 
effective  the  reciprocity  agreement  were  intro- 
duced in  the  house  of  commons.  The  Con- 
servatives went  into  caucus  on  the  resolutions. 
There,  at  the  instance  of  the  protected  manu- 
facturers and  the  railway  and  transport  companies, 
it  was  decided  that  the  resolutions  must  be 
opposed;  that  the  Liberal  government  must 
either  withdraw  them,  or  be  compelled  by  ob- 
struction in  the  house  of  commons  to  dissolve 
parliament. 

Within  a  week  after  the  caucus  at  Ottawa 
every  Conservative  newspaper  organ  in  the 
Dominion  was  vehemently  declaring  that  reci- 
procity with  the  United  States  would  ruin  the 
Dominion  and  endanger  the  connection  of  Canada 
with  the  British  Empire. 

These  close  and  long-standing  relations  of 
political  parties  with  the  newspapers  —  relations 
as   old    as   Confederation  —  explain   the   change 

C396] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

in  the  press  gallery  after  a  general  election  that   Organs 
has  resulted  in  a  change  of  government  at  Ottawa.    ^  ^ 
The  custom  is  based    on  the  presumption   that   of 
reporters  of  newspapers  that   are  organs  of  the    ^®^*®* 
government  will,  as  a  matter  of  course,  give  most 
attention  to  the  supporters  of  the  government  in 
the  house  of  commons,   and   that   reporters  for 
organs  of  the  opposition  will  give  most  attention 
to  the  speeches  of  the  members  who  sit  to  the 
speaker's  left. 

Much    more    than    at   either   Westminster   or   joumai- 
Washington,    the  press    gallery  at    Ottawa    is  a   *^°^ 
stepping-stone  to  a  career  in   Dominion  politics   stepping- 
or  in  the  civil  service.     But  a  journalist  whose   s*°^®*° 

political 

seat  in  the  press  gallery  is  to  the  speaker's  left   career 
expects   nothing   so   long   as   the   political   party 
to  which  he  is  attached  is  in  opposition. 

Parliamentary  debates  are  not  as  fully  reported   News- 
in  the  newspapers  as  are  debates  at  Westminster   p^p®*" 
in  the  newspapers  of  the  United  Kingdom.     For   of 
fifteen  or  sixteen  years  before  the  war  they  were   debates 
not  as   fully  reported   as   they  were  in   the  first 
thirty-five     years     of    Confederation.       As    the 
Dominion  developed,  and  the  material  prosperity 
of  a  part  of  its  population  greatly  increased,  new 
interests  —  industrial,     financial,     and     social  — 
pressed  on  the  attention  of  the  newspapers. 

Popular  interest  in  the  debates,  and  in  the 
contention  of  political  parties  at  Ottawa,  more- 
over, obviously  slackened  after  the  only  well- 
marked  dividing  line  between  Conservatives  and 

[397] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Dte- 

appear- 

ance 

of  old 

dividing 

line 

between 

political 

parties 


Absence 
of 

political 


Easing 
down  of 
political 
propa- 
ganda 


Liberals  disappeared  in  1897.  This  line  was 
obliterated  by  a  Liberal  government.  Protec- 
tionist tariffs  —  the  Cayley  and  Gait  tariffs  of 
1858  and  1859  —  constituted  a  dividing  line 
between  Conservatives  and  Liberals  in  the  era 
of  the  United  Provinces.  After  Confederation 
protection  was  again  a  dividing  line  —  the  most 
obvious  dividing  line  —  from  1870  to  1897. 
The  line  disappeared  completely  after  official 
Liberalism  at  Ottawa,  as  distinct  from  Liberalism 
in  the  constituencies,  was  suddenly  converted 
to  the  Conservative  policies  of  high  tariffs  and 
generous  bounties  to  some  Canadian  industries. 

No  outstanding  poHtical  principle  thereafter 
divided  Conservatives  from  Liberals.  No  new 
issues  based  on  principles  arose  in  Dominion 
politics  until  1910,  when  there  was  some  contro- 
versy over  the  form  in  which  Canada  should 
contribute  to  the  strengthening  of  the  British 
navy,  and  191 1,  when  the  question  of  reciprocity 
with  the  United  States  was  revived. 

A  great  slackening  of  political  propaganda 
in  the  constituencies  followed  the  volte  face  of 
the  Liberals  on  protection  in  1897;  for  there  was 
no  longer  a  question  to  be  discussed  which  aroused 
popular  interest  all  over  the  Dominion.  With 
the  slowing  down  of  political  activities  there  was 
a  decline  in  popular  interest  in  the  debates  in 
the  house  of  commons,  which  soon  manifested 
itself  in  a  curtailment  of  the  space  appropriated 
in  the  newspapers  to  parliamentary  reports. 

[398] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 
Even     under    these     newer     conditions  —  the   Reports 

of 
debates 


wider  range  of  public  interests  other  than  poHtical   ° 


demanding  continuous  attention  from  the  news- 
papers, and  the  absence  in  the  years  from  1897 
to  1914  of  any  well-marked  and  long-continuing 
dividing  line  between  Conservatives  and  Liberals 
—  debates  in  the  house  of  commons  are  much 
more  fully  reported  in  Canadian  newspapers 
than  are  debates  in  Congress  in  newspapers  in 
the  United  States. 

Proceedings  in   parliament   are   also   accorded   More 
more  continuous  attention  in  the  editorial  columns   ^^' , 

cussion 

of  the   Canadian   newspapers   than   is   given   in  of 

American  newspapers  to  proceedings  in  Congress.  ^^^^^ 

Dominion    politics,    moreover,    are    much    more  Canada 

discussed   in  the  home,   on  the  street,   in   hotel  !?^^ 

.  United 

corridors  and  clubs,  and  in  the  street  cars  and  the  states 
railway  trains,   in   Canada  than   federal   politics 
are  so  discussed  in  the  United  States. 

In  some  aspects  of  industrial  and  social  life  — •  Kinship 

particularly  of  social  life  —  Canadians  are  more  °* 

akin   to   their  American   neighbors   than   to  the  ufein 

people  of  England   or  Scotland.     But  Canadian  Canada 

political  life  in  most  of  its  aspects  is  much  more  pouticai 

akin  to  political  life  in  England  than  to  political  "^®*^ 

IT     •        U     TT    •      J   c  England 

lire  m  the  United  States. 

Especially  is  this  true  as  regards  popular 
interest  in  the  proceedings  of  parliament.  It  is 
due  partly  to  the  love  of  Canadians  for  political 
affairs  and  political  discussions;  partly  to  the 
stimulus    given    to    popular    poHtical    education 

C399] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Con-         and  discussion  by  the  fact  that  at  Ottawa  there 

^1°^^       are  men  whose  names   and   figures  are  familiar 

sustain       all  Over  the   Dominion,   confronting  each   other 

interest      Jecade  after  decade  in  political  rivalry;  and  partly 

Dominion   to  the  fact  that  at  Ottawa  there  is  no  fixed  period 

poutics       ^Qj.  ^^  administration,  and  that  any  day  a  political 

crisis  may  develop  there  that  may  involve  the 

fate  of  a  government  and  confront  the  Dominion 

with  a  general  election. 


Lawot 
parlia- 
ment 


Rules  of 
British 
parlia- 
ment 
adopted 
at 

Confed- 
eration 


VII.  Procedure  of  the  House  —  Debate  on  the 
Address  to  the  Governor-General 

Procedure  of  the  house  of  commons  is  deter- 
mined by  rules  which  are  continuing  —  rules 
which  are  not  adopted  by  each  new  house  in  the 
first  days  of  a  new  parliament,  but  which  are 
part  of  what  may  be  described  as  the  law  of 
parliament. 

The  legislatures  of  the  old  British  North  Ameri- 
can provinces  east  of  the  Great  Lakes,  when  they 
were  organized  in  the  years  between  1758  and 
1792,  each  adopted,  as  far  as  was  practicable 
amid  their  primitive  surroundings,  the  rules  of 
procedure  of  the  parliament  at  Westminster. 
From  1 841  to  1866  the  legislature  of  the  United 
Provinces  was  governed  by  the  rules  of  the 
British  parliament;  and  in  the  first  session  of 
the  parliament  of  the  Dominion  the  rules  of  the 
house  of  commons  were  closely  modeled  on  the 
rules  of  the  house  of  commons  at  Westminster. 

[  400  ] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

A  general  rule  —  Rule  No.  i  —  was  then  Rule 
adopted,  a  rule  still  in  force  at  Ottawa,  which 
declares  that  in  all  cases  not  provided  for  in  the 
rules,  "the  rules,  usages,  and  forms  of  proceedings 
of  the  house  of  commons  of  the  United  Kingdom 
of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  in  force  on  the  first 
day  of  July,  1867,  shall  be  followed."  ^ 

Not  all  the  rules   and   usages  of  Westminster   No 
are    practicable    at    Ottawa.     At    Westminster,    ^^^^^^^ 
because  there  is  in  England  an  established  church,    Ottawa 
prayers  in  the  house  of  commons  are  read  by  a 
chaplain,    who    is    of   the    Church    of    England. 
In  Canada  there  is  no  national  church.     There 
is  no  chaplain  of  the  house  of  commons.     Prayers 
are  read  by  the  speaker. 

At  Westminster  forty  members  of  the  house    Quorum 
have,    since    1640,    constituted    a    quorum.     At 
Ottawa,  where  the  number  of  members  is  less 
than  one  third  of  those  at  Westminster,  twenty 
members  constitute  a  quorum. 

Every  member  is  bound  to  attend  the  house,    NoroU- 
unless  leave  of  absence  has  been  given.     There  is    ^ty~j 
no  call  of  the  roll  and  no  reading  of  the  journals,    whips 
as  there  is  in  the  senate  and  house  at  Washington. 
Each   political    party  has   its  whips  —  members 
of  the  party  to  whom  is  delegated  the  duty  of 
keeping    members    in    attendance.     The    organ- 
ization  and   activities  of  the  whips'   offices   are 
such  that  the  whereabouts  of  every  member  of 
the  house  is  known. 

1  Rules  of  H.  C.  of  Canada,  1909,  i. 

[401  ] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Keeping         Pairs  for  divisions  are  arranged  by  the  whips; 
house        ^"^    ^"    *^^   government   whips   is    thrown    the 
responsibiHty  of  keeping  a  quorum,  especially  at 
those  sittings   at  which  government  business  is 
before  the  house. 
Speech  Procedure  in   regard   to  the  speech   from  the 

^one  ^  throne  at  the  opening  of  a  session  at  Ottawa  is 
identical  with  that  at  Westminster.  Even  the 
form  of  the  speech  is  the  same.  The  opening 
paragraphs  foreshadowing  the  legislation  that  is 
to  be  introduced  during  the  session,  and  describ- 
ing material  conditions  in  the  Dominion,  are 
addressed  to  members  of  the  senate  and  the  house; 
while  the  paragraph  intimating  that  the  govern- 
ment will  need  votes  of  money  is  addressed  to  the 
house  of  commons  alone. 

The  final  paragraph  commending  the  measures 
to  be  submitted  to  the  attention  of  parliament, 
and  invoking  the  blessing  of  the  Almighty  on 
the  deliberations,  is,  like  the  opening  paragraphs, 
addressed  to  "honorable  gentlemen  of  the  sen- 
ate; gentlemen  of  the  house  of  commons."  ^ 
Debate  The  speech  comes  before  the  house  of  commons 

address  ^^  ^  motion  made  from  the  government  benches 
in  reply  —  a  motion  for  which  the  government  is  respon- 
sible—  that  "an  address  be  presented  to  his 
excellency,  the  governor-general,  offering  the 
thanks  of  this  house  to  his  excellency  for  the 
gracious  speech  which  he  has  been  pleased  to 
make  to  both  houses  of  parliament." 

^  Cf.  H.  C.  Debates,  January  19,  1917. 
[402] 


to 
speech 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 
To   two   of  the   younger   members,    members   Motion 

for 
address 


who  are  recognized  as  men  of  promise,  is  assigned    °^ 


the  duty  of  proposing  and  seconding  the  motion 
for  the  address  of  thanks.  It  is  a  much-prized 
distinction  to  be  invited  by  the  leader  of  the  house 
to  render  this  service.  Only  supporters  of  the 
government  are  asked  to  undertake  it. 

In  accordance  with  a  usage  which  had  its  Dual 
origin  in  the  legislature  of  the  United  Provinces,  ^^^uage 
the  motion  is  proposed  by  an  English-speaking 
member,  and  seconded  by  a  member  from  Quebec, 
who  addresses  the  house  in  French.  Thus,  at 
the  beginning  of  a  new  session  —  usually  at  the 
second  sitting  —  the  house  and  the  Dominion 
are  formally  reminded  of  the  compact  at  Con- 
federation that  the  two  languages  should  be  on  an 
equality  in  parliament. 

Except  for  the  introduction  of  bills,  the  debate  Prece- 
on  the  address  in  reply  to  the  speech  from  the  ^®^*^® 
throne  takes  precedence  of  all  other  business,  debate 
Any  question  within  the  realm  of  Dominion 
politics,  or  of  Empire  politics,  can  be  discussed 
when  the  address  is  before  the  house. 

There  is  no  time  limit  for  speeches.  It  was  no  time 
1913  before  the  house  had  any  rule  under  which  i^™**  ^o*" 
a  debate  on  any  subject  could  be  closured.  So 
far  in  the  history  of  the  new  rule  it  has  never 
been  applied  in  the  debate  on  the  address,  and 
usually  from  eight  to  ten  sittings  are  devoted 
to  it. 

The  first  member  to  address  the  house  after 

[403] 


on 
motion 


EVOLUTION    OF  THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Leader 
of 

oppo- 
sition 
and  the 
address 


Criticism 


govern- 
ment 


Expert 
criticism 


the  motion  has  been  proposed  and  seconded  is 
the  leader  of  the  opposition,  who  avails  himself 
of  this  opportunity  to  make  a  general  criticism 
of  the  policies  of  the  government.  The  premier 
and  leader  of  the  house  replies  to  the  speech 
from  the  front  opposition  bench;  and  thereafter 
the  debate  on  the  address  becomes  general. 

All  the  leaders  on  the  two  front  benches  take 
part.  It  is  a  custom  also  that  ex-ministers  in 
opposition  criticize  the  policies  and  measures  of 
their  successors  in  office.  Thus,  if  the  minister 
of  finance  in  the  late  government  is  of  the  house, 
he  directs  his  criticism  to  the  policies  that  originate 
in  the  department  of  finance;  and  the  minister 
of  finance,  when  he  intervenes  in  the  debate, 
replies  at  length,  and  in  detail,  to  the  criticisms 
offered  by  his  predecessor  in  office.  In  the  same 
way  it  often  happens  that  the  minister  of  the 
interior  replies  to  an  ex-minister  of  the  interior, 
and  the  postmaster-general  to  the  member  of  the 
opposition  who  held  this  office  in  the  preceding 
administration. 

The  custom  so  described  gives  a  zest  and  inter- 
est to  the  debate,  an  interest  that  extends  far 
beyond  the  house  and  the  galleries.  It  results 
in  a  discussion  of  the  policies  and  administration 
of  the  principal  departments  of  state  by  men 
who  from  their  experience  are  regarded  as  experts. 

Back-bench  members  on  both  sides  of  the 
house,  in  the  debate  on  the  address,  have  the 
best   opportunity   of  the    session   of  expressing 

[404] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

their  opinions  and  convictions;  and,  through 
the  official  verbatim  reports  of  the  debates  and 
the  newspapers,  of  presenting  their  opinions  and 
convictions  to  their  constituents. 

VIII.  The  Constitutional  Value  of  the  Debate 

on  the  Address 
The  debate  has  much   more  than  a  formal  or   More 
ceremonial  value.     It  has  a  larger  value  than  of  *^^^* 

..  .  (.....  cere- 

afrordmg  ex-mmisters  an  opportunity  of  criticizing   moniai 
their  successors  in  office,  and  back-bench  members   ^^"® 
of  addressing  their  constituents  from  the  floor  of 
the  house  of  commons. 

It  offers  the  house,  and  through  the  house,  the   Discus- 
Dominion,  two  opportunities  that  at  times  are  of  ^^°^  °' 
much  constitutional  value.     It  can  be,  and  often   Dominion 
has  been,  a  debate  on  the  state  of  the  Dominion, 
an  opportunity  of  calling  the   attention   of  gov- 
ernment  to  unfavorable  conditions  in  the  body 
politic,  for  which  it  is  urgent  that  some  remedy 
shall  be  devised. 

It  also  affords  an  opportunity  to  the  opposition   ChaUen- 
of   challenging    the    policy    of   the    government,   ^^j^g 
of  testing,  by  a  division,  the  feeling  of  the  house,   of 
and  of  informing  the  constituencies  of  the  grounds    *^°^®™' 
and  expediency  of  the  challenge. 

If  the   opposition   in   caucus   has   decided   on   Amend- 
challenging    any    policy    of    the    government —  ^Son*" 
on  a  challenge  that  is  to  be  pressed  to  a  division 
—  the  mode  of  procedure  is  quite  simple.     No 
objection  is  raised  by  the  opposition  to  the  address 

C405] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

of  thanks  to  the  governor-general.  To  object 
to  the  motion  would  be  discourteous,  if  not  dis- 
loyal, despite  the  fact  that  the  speech  from  the 
throne  is  framed  by  the  cabinet.  An  amendment 
is  offered  of  which  the  purpose  is  threefold. 
It  expresses  concurrence  with  the  proposed  address 
of  thanks;  condemns  the  policy  which  is  assailed; 
and  expresses  regret  that  in  the  speech  from  the 
throne  there  is  no  announcement  that  the  policy 
challenged  is  to  be  amended  or  abandoned. 
Motion  An  amendment  framed  on  these  lines  is  equiv- 

of  want      alent  to  a  motion  of  want  of  confidence  in  the 

of  con- 
fidence      government.     It  is  so  regarded  on  both  sides  of 

^  the  house;   and  for  a  division  on  such  an  amend- 

govem-  '  .... 

ment  ment  the  government  and  opposition  whips 
beat  up  all  the  strength  that  each  party  can  com- 
mand. No  government  that  was  defeated  on  an 
amendment  to  the  address  could  hope  to  carry 
on  through  the  session.  The  premier  would  have 
no  alternative  but  to  tender  his  resignation  to 
the  governor-general. 
Presen-  After  the  motion  for  the  address  of  thanks  has 

tation  heen  adopted  by  the  house,  it  is  followed  by 
address  another  motion,  proposed  and  seconded  from  the 
*°  treasury  bench,   that   "the   said   address   be  en- 

generai  grossed,  and  presented  to  his  excellency  the 
governor-general,  by  such  members  of  this  house 
as  are  of  the  honorable  the  privy  council."  ^ 
This  is  a  formal  motion  on  which  there  is  no 
debate. 

1  Cf.  H.  C.  Debates,  January  30,  1917. 
[406] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

IX.  The  Select  Standing  Committees  of 
the  House 

While  the  house  is  occupied  with  the  debate   Nomina- 
on  the  address,  a  special   committee,  on  which    ^^^ 
are  supporters  of  the  government  and  members    com- 
of  the  opposition,  has  prepared  lists  of  members    °^**®®^ 
to   compose   the   select  standing   committees   of 
the    house  —  committees    which    continue    only 
during  the  session  in  which  they  are  appointed. 

There  are  eleven  of  these  committees,  in  addi- 
tion to  a  committee  that  has  charge  of  the  official 
reports  of  the  debates,  and  a  committee  that, 
in  association  with  a  committee  of  the  senate, 
has  charge  of  the  library  of  parHament. 

Supporters  of  the  government  are  in  a  majority   Member- 
on   each   committee.     Membership   of  the   com-    ^^p  °^ 
mittees  varies  irom  25  to  119.      Ihe  importance   mittees 
of  a  committee,  and  the  volume  of  work  that  is 
referred  to  it,  are  indicated  by  the  number  of  its 
members. 

The  committees  are:  Descrip- 

Members        of 

1.  Privileges  and  elections ; 34       *^°™" 

2.  Railways,  canals,  and  telegraph  lines      119 

3.  Miscellaneous  private  bills 64 

4.  Standing  orders 31 

5.  Printing 25 

6.  Public  accounts 63 

7.  Banking  and  commerce 95 

8.  Agriculture  and  colonization 94 

C  407  ] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

9.   Marine  and  fisheries 36 

10.  Mines  and  minerals 30 

1 1 .  Forests,  waterways,  and  water  powers       3 1 

Election  The  Special  committee  which  has  prepared  the 
mitteTs  ^^^^^  °^  members  to  compose  these  committees 
makes  its  report  as  soon  as  the  address  to  the 
governor-general  has  been  adopted.  The  govern- 
ment, in  practice,  is  responsible  for  the  organ- 
ization of  the  house  for  this  committee  work  — 
work  that  is  quite  distinct  from  the  work  of  com- 
mittees of  the  whole  house,  such  as  the  committee 
of  ways  and  means  and  the  committee  of  supply. 
Powers  The   acceptance  of  the  report  of  the   special 

of  com-      committee  is  moved  by  the  leader  of  the  house. 

mittees         r»        i  •  •  i 

By  this  motion,  when  agreed  to,  the  committees 
are  established  and  empowered  to  examine  and 
inquire  into  all  such  matters  and  things  as  may 
be  referred  to  them  by  the  house;  called  upon  to 
report  from  time  to  time  their  observations  and 
opinions  thereon;  and  empowered  to  send  for 
persons,  papers,  and  records.^ 
Watch-  From  time  to  time  the  committees  avail  them- 

^^^  selves  of  the  power  to  send  for  persons,  papers, 

treasury  and  records.  Most  use  of  this  power  is  made  by 
the  committee  on  public  accounts.  It  investi- 
gates the  expenditure  of  public  money,  and  may 
be  described  as  the  parliamentary  watchdog  of 
the  treasury. 

1  Cf.  H.  C.  Debates,  January  31,  1917. 

[408] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 


X.  Procedure  on  Bills 

Procedure  in  the  house  of  commons  on  bills  is, 
in  its  main  lines,  almost  identical  with  that  in  the 
senate.  But  there  is  a  range  of  bills  which  cannot 
originate  elsewhere  than  in  the  house  of  commons. 
In  the  senate  there  is  neither  committee  of  ways 
and  means  nor  committee  of  supply;  for  bills 
imposing  any  charge  on  the  people  of  the  Dominion 
or  making  any  grant  for  the  services  of  the  crown 
cannot  originate  in  the  upper  house. 

"All  aids  and  supplies  granted  to  his  majesty 
by  the  parliament  of  Canada,''  reads  house  rule 
No.  78,  "are  the  sole  gift  of  the  house  of  commons; 
and  all  bills  for  granting  such  aids  and  supplies 
ought  to  begin  with  the  house,  as  it  is  the  un- 
doubted right  of  the  house  to  direct,  limit,  and 
appoint  in  all  such  bills,  the  ends,  purposes,  con- 
siderations, conditions,  limitations,  and  qualifica- 
tions of  such  grants,  which  are  not  alterable  by 
the  senate." 

All  money  bills  —  all  bills  imposing  a  charge 
on  the  people  of  Canada  —  must  be  based  on 
resolutions  of  the  house  of  commons;  and  the 
usage  is  that  private  members  —  members  not 
of  the  cabinet  —  cannot  introduce  bills  of  this 
description.  The  bills  must  originate  with  the 
government,  and  the  house  can  act  on  them  only 
with  the  leave  of  the  crown. ^ 


Bills 

that  must 
originate 
in  house 
of  com- 
mons 


Aids  and 
supplies 


Bills  that 

cannot 

originate 

with 

private 

members 


^  "The  provision  which  prevents  the  house  passing  any 
such  bill  unless  it  shall  first  have  been  recommended  by  message 

[409] 


bUls 


duction 
of  bUls 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Reso-  No   bill,   moreover,   relating  to  trade,   or  the 

lutions       alteration  of  laws  concerning  trade,  can  be  intro- 

nary  to      duced  Until  "the  proposition  shall  have  been  first 

considered  in  a  committee  of  the  whole  house,  and 

agreed  unto  by  the  house."  ^     This  means  that 

there  must  be  resolutions  preliminary  to  the  bill, 

resolutions  which  add  an  additional  stage  to  the 

stages  of  an  ordinary  bill. 

Intro-  Two  days'  notice  must  be  given  of  a  motion 

for  leave  to  introduce  a  bill,  resolution,  or  address 

for  the  appointment  of  any  committee.     On  the 

day  designated  leave  to  introduce  a  bill  is  given, 

the  bill  is  introduced,  and  it  is  read  a  first  time. 

Except  in  the  case  of  important  bills,  introduced 

by  the  government,  there  is  seldom  any  debate 

at  first  reading.     A  brief  explanation  of  the  general 

aim  or  purpose  of  the  bill  is  all  that  is  offered  by 

the  member  who  introduces  it. 

Second  At  second  reading  the  case  for  the  bill  is  fully 

reading      presented.     It  is  at  second  reading  that  the  house 

decides  for  or  against  the  principle  of  the  bill. 

But  if  there  is  opposition,  and  it  is  desired  that 

the  house  shall  not  commit  itself  on  the  principle, 

a  second  course  is  open. 

Six  It  can  be  moved  that  the  bill  be  given  "six 

months'   hoist."     This   motion   is   equivalent   to 

the   motion    at   Westminster   that   "the   bill   be 

from    the    governor-general,    emphasizes    the    responsibility 
of  the  ministry  for  the  expenditure  of  every  dollar  of  public 
money."  —  Riddell,  "Constitution  of  Canada,"  95-96. 
^  Rules  of  the  House  of  Commons,  1909,  Rule  48. 

[410] 


months' 
hoist " 


com- 
mittees 


com- 
mittee 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

read  a  second  time  this  day  six  months.*'  If 
the  motion  is  carried,  it  is  as  fatal  for  the  bill 
as  a  direct  rejection,  for  nothing  more  is  heard 
during  a  session  of  a  bill  that  has  been  given  the 
six  months'  hoist. 

If  the  house  accepts  the  principle  of  a  bill  at   standing 
second  reading,  the  bill  goes  either  to  one  of  the 
standing  committees,  or  it  is  considered  in  com-   and 
mittee  of  the  whole  house.     If  it  goes  to  a  stand- 
ing committee,  committee  stage  in  the  house  is  not   of  the 
omitted.     The  purpose  of  sending  it  to  a  stand-   ^  °' 
ing  committee  is  to  perfect  its  details,  and  thereby 
lessen  the  work  on  the  bill  in  committee  of  the 
whole  house. 

At  second-reading  stage,  and  also  at  the  third   Com- 
reading  of  a  bill,  a  member  can  speak  only  once.    ^"^® 
In  committee  of  the  whole  the  bill  is  considered   in  the 
clause  by  clause.     At  this  stage,  unless  the  closure   ^°"^® 
has  been  moved  and  a  time  limit  fixed  for  com- 
mittee stage,  there  is  no  restriction  on  the  number 
of  times  a  member  can  speak,  or  on  the  number 
of  amendments  he  can  offer,   provided  that  the 
amendments  are  germane  to  the  bill. 

From  committee   the   bill  is   reported   to   the   Report 
house.      This    is    a  distinct  stage  —  a    stage   at   ^^^^ 
which,   when    amendments  have   been   made  in 
committee,  debate  and  amendments  are  in  order. 
In  the  event  of  a  bill  being  reported  from  commit- 
tee without  amendments,  report  stage  is  formal. 

Third   reading  is  the  last  stage  of  a   bill.     It   Third 
then  goes  to  the  senate.     If  the  senate  amends  a   '®*"^ 

[411  ] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Royal 
assent 


BiUs 

formerly 

reserved 


Instruc- 
tions 
to 

governor- 
general 


Revision 
of 

Instruc- 
tions 
in  1878 


bill  and  the  house  disagrees,  the  question  is  settled 
by  messages  or  by  conference,  usually  by  message. 

The  royal  assent  must  be  given  before  a  bill 
becomes  law.  The  British  North  America  act 
provides  that  when  a  bill  is  presented  to  the 
governor-general  for  the  king's  assent,  "he  shall 
declare,  according  to  his  discretion,  but  subject 
to  the  provisions  of  this  act,  and  to  his  majesty's 
instructions,  either  that  he  assents  thereto  in 
the  king's  name,  or  that  he  withholds  the  king's 
assent,  or  that  he  reserves  the  bill  for  the  signifi- 
cation of  the  king's  pleasure." 

For  a  few  years  after  Confederation  certain 
bills,  including  all  divorce  bills,  were  reserved, 
and  did  not  become  law  until  the  signification 
from  the  crown  had  been  received  at  Ottawa  from 
London,  a  fact  which  was  announced  by  procla- 
mation issued  by  the  governor-general. 

This  procedure,  a  procedure  established  in 
connection  with  certain  classes  of  bills  in  the 
days  of  the  legislature  of  the  United  Provinces, 
was  in  accordance  with  the  instructions  received 
by  the  governor-general  on  his  appointment. 
But  in  1876,  Blake,  minister  of  justice  in  the 
Mackenzie  cabinet  of  1 873-1 878,  for  the  govern- 
ment, objected  to  this  and  other  provisions  in 
the  royal  instructions  to  the  governor-general. 

Blake's  case  was  that  the  instructions  to  which 
the  Mackenzie  government  objected  were  incon- 
sistent with  the  advanced  stage  of  responsible 
government  existing  in  the  Dominion. 

[412] 


THE   HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 


"Canada,"  the  colonial  office  was  reminded  in  this  Blake 
memorandum  of  July,  1876,  "is  not  merely  a  colony  or  a 
province;  she  is  a  dominion  composed  of  an  aggregate  of 
seven  large  provinces  federally  united  under  an  imperial 
charter,  which  expressly  recites  that  her  constitution  is  to 
be  similar  in  principle  to  that  of  the  United  Kingdom.  Nay, 
more,  besides  the  powers  with  which  she  is  invested  over  a 
large  part  of  the  affairs  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  several 
provinces,  she  enjoys  absolute  powers  of  legislation  and 
administration  over  the  people  and  territories  of  the  north- 
west, out  of  which  she  has  already  created  one  province, 
and  is  empowered  to  create  others,  with  representative  insti- 
tutions. 

"These  circumstances,  together  with  the  vastness  of  her 
area,  the  numbers  of  her  free  population,  the  character  of 
the  representative  institutions  and  of  the  responsible  govern- 
ment which  as  citizens  of  the  various  provinces  and  of  Canada 
her  people  have  so  long  enjoyed,  all  point  to  the  propriety 
of  dealing  with  the  question  in  hand  in  a  manner  very  dif- 
ferent from  that  which  might  be  fitly  adopted  with  reference 
to  a  single  and  comparatively  small  and  young  colony. 

"  Besides  the  general  spread  of  the  principles  of  constitu- 
tional freedom  there  has  been,  in  reference  to  the  colonies, 
a  recognized  difference  between  their  circumstances  resulting 
in  the  application  to  those  in  a  less  advanced  condition  of  a 
lesser  measure  of  self-government,  while  others  are  said  to 
be  invested  with  the  fullest  freedom  of  political  government; 
and  it  may  be  fairly  stated  that  there  is  no  dependency  of 
the  British  crown  which  is  entitled  to  so  full  an  application 
of  the  principlies  of  constitutional  freedom  as  the  Dominion 
of  Canada." 

The  erection  of  another  landmark  In  the  consti- 
tutional development  of  Canada,  in  the  progress 
of  the  Dominion  to  the  status  of  a  nation,  re- 
sulted from  the  interchanges  of  1876  between 
Ottawa  and  the  colonial  office.     The  commission 

C413] 


The  case 
for 

larger 
powers 


Canada's 
claim  for 
constitu- 
tional 
freedom 


All 

claims 

conceded 


power 
dormant 


EVOLUTION    OF   THE    DOMINION  OF   CANADA 

and  instructions  given  to  the  governor-general  of 
the  Dominion  were  recast  when  Lome  succeeded 
DufFerin  in  1878.  The  principles  that  Blake 
and  the  Mackenzie  administration  had  insisted 
upon  were  conceded  by  the  colonial  office;  "and 
since  then  there  has  been  no  dispute  with  ref- 
erence to  ministerial  responsibility,  either  with 
regard  to  the  assent  to  bills,  the  granting  of  par- 
dons, or  anything  else."  ^ 
Veto  As  a  result  of  this  revision  in  1878,  and  of  the 

greatly  increased  power  which  the  government 
at  Ottawa  gradually  drew  to  itself  under  the 
unwritten,  as  well  as  the  written,  constitution 
of  the  Dominion,  the  power  to  veto  or  reserve 
a  bill  is  dormant.  It  has  so  long  been  out  of  use 
as  to  be  almost  forgotten  in  Canada;  ^  and  parlia- 
ment at  Ottawa  passes  bills  with  as  little  appre- 
hension of  a  veto  as  parliament  at  Westminster, 
where  the  veto  power  of  the  crown,  though  the 
exercise  of  it  was  threatened  by  George  III  in 
1774  and  again  by  George  IV  in  1829,^  has  not 
been  used  since  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne. 

^  Lash,  "  The  Working  of  Federal  Institutions  in  Canada," 
83-85;  Keith,  "  Responsible  Government  in  the  Dominions," 
240. 

2  Cf.  Riddell,  "Constitution  of  Canada,"  97,  and  Note 
XIX,  III. 

3  Cf.  James  Anson  Farrer,  "The  Monarchy  in  PoUtics," 
82,  128. 


[414] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

XI.  Government  Business:   Private  Members* 
Bills  and  Private  Bill  Legislation 

Bills  introduced  in  the  house  of  commons  are  of  Three 
three  classes:   government  bills,  private  members'    oj^^^uis 
bills,  and  private  bill  legislation. 

All  bills  for  which  the  government  is  respon-  Govem- 
sible  are  in  the  first  of  these  classes.  In  normal  ^* 
times  government  business  monopolizes  two 
thirds  of  the  time  of  the  house.  The  two  impor- 
tant government  bills  —  bills  which  occupy  much 
of  the  time  of  the  house  each  session  —  are  (i) 
the  finance  bill  or  the  budget,  and  (2)  the  bill 
voting  supplies  for  all  the  services  of  the  Dominion. 

The  finance  bill  is  framed  by  the  minister  of  Budget 
finance.  Before  it  is  introduced,  any  increases 
or  decreases  in  taxation  that  are  embodied  in  it 
have  been  discussed  and  approved  by  the  cabinet. 
The  minister  of  finance  makes  his  budget  state- 
ment on  a  motion  that  the  house  go  into  commit- 
tee of  ways  and  means;  and  it  is  on  resolutions, 
considered  in  committee  of  ways  and  means, 
that  the  finance  bill  is  founded. 

The  statement  of  the  minister  is  long  and  de-   Speech 
tailed.     Two,    and    sometimes   three,    hours    are   ^^ii^ster 
occupied  in  its  submission  to  the  house.     It  covers   of 
the  receipts  and  expenditures  of  the  government 
for  the  fiscal  year,  and   includes  a  detailed  sta- 
tistical survey  of  the  material  progress  of  the  Do- 
minion.      Finally,   the   changes   in   taxation   are 
announced.     Increases  or  decreases  in  customs  or 

C415] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Indirect 
taxation 


Sources 

of 

revenue 


Private 
members 
and 

amend- 
ments to 
finance 
bUl 


inland  revenue  duties  go  into  effect  immediately 
on  their  announcement  in  the  house  of  commons 
by  the  minister  of  finance. 

People  in  Canada,  in  normal  times,  do  not 
come  face  to  face  with  the  tax  gatherers  of  the 
Dominion  government.  Except  for  stamps  on 
tobacco,  cigars,  and  patent  medicines,  they  are 
never  reminded,  unless  they  are  importers,  that 
the  government  at  Ottawa  is  exercising  its  powers 
of  taxation.^ 

All  the  revenue  is  derived  from  three  sources. 
By  far  the  larger  part  of  it  comes  from  indirect 
taxation  —  from  (i)  customs  duties  on  imports 
and  (2)  inland  or  internal  revenue  duties  on  wines, 
spirits,  and  beer,  and  on  tobacco  and  patent 
medicines.  The  third  source  is  mining  royalties, 
payments  for  leases  of  lands  and  of  water  privi- 
leges, and  for  services  rendered  by  the  govern- 
ment as  a  carrier  of  mails,  and  also  as  the  owner  of 
railways,  grain  elevators,  and  coastwise  steamship 
lines. 

After  the  resolutions  have  been  adopted  in 
committee  and  embodied  in  a  bill,  procedure  on 
the  bill  is  much  the  same  as  on  a  non-financial 
measure.     But  at  no  stage  of  the  finance  bill  is  it 

^  A  tax  on  excess  profits  of  manufacturing,  transport, 
insurance,  banking,  and  other  business  companies  was  im- 
posed as  a  war-time  finance  measure  in  1916.  Except  for 
this,  and  some  other  direct  imposts  of  the  war  period,  no 
direct  taxation  has  ever  been  imposed  by  the  Dominion 
parliament. 

C4>6] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

in  order  for  a  private  member  to  move  to  increase 
any  charge  imposed  by  the  bill.  A  motion  to 
increase  a  tax  can  be  made  only  from  the  treasury 
bench.  A  motion  to  decrease  a  tax,  made  by 
any  member  of  the  house  of  commons,  is  in  order; 
and  it  is  on  such  motions  that  discussions  occur 
when  the  house  is  in  committee  on  the  schedules 
of  a  tariff  bill. 

Debates  on   the  budget  extend   over  an  even   Wide 
larger  number  of  sittings  than  the  debate  on  the   ^^^^j' 
address  to  the  governor-general;    for  almost  any   sionon 
aspect  of  Dominion  politics  can  be  discussed  when    ^^^^^^ 
the  budget  is  before  the  house. 

In  the  period   from   1878   to   1896,  when  the   Budget 
Liberal  opposition  was  conducting  in  the  constit-   ^f^g*i!f 
uencies,  as  well  as  in  the  house  and  the  senate,    i896 
a  vigorous  and  continuous  propaganda  for  a  tariff 
for  revenue  only,  debates  on  the  finance  bill  ran 
on  for  weeks,  and  the  people  of  the  Dominion 
looked  on  with  keen  interest. 

After  the  Liberals  in  1897  became  as  protection-   Less 
ist  as  the  Conservatives,   and  were   responsible   ^t^rest- 

tag  after 

for  the  highest  protective  tariffs  ever  enacted  at   Liberals 
Ottawa  from  1867  to  the  war,  there  was  not  a   become 

protec- 

member  left  in  the  house  of  commons  to  advocate  tionists 
tariffs  for  revenue  only,  or  even  to  oppose  in- 
creases in  the  tariff  made  by  the  Liberal  govern- 
ment. Debates  on  the  finance  bill  were  greatly 
curtailed,  because  as  the  Conservatives  were  all 
protectionists  there  was  no  longer  any  opposition 
in  the  house  to  a  high  protective  tariff;   and  there 

[417] 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Finance 
bUl  In 
senate 


Com- 
mittee 
of 
supply 


Esti- 
mates 
for 
state 
depart- 
ments 


Value  of 
work  in 
com- 
mittee 
of 
supply 


was  a  corresponding  decline  in  popular  interest 
in  the  budget  debate. 

From  the  house  the  finance  bill  goes  to  the 
senate.  There  the  stages  of  the  bill  are  merely 
formal,  and  the  debates  of  only  academic  interest. 
The  senate  can  reject  a  finance  bill,  but  only  at 
the  cost  of  bringing  the  various  governmental 
services  of  the  Dominion  to  a  standstill.  It  is 
denied  all  power  of  amendment.  In  this  respect 
the  senate  stands  in  the  same  subordinate  position 
towards  the  house  of  commons  that  the  house  of 
lords  has  held  since  1678  towards  the  house  of 
commons  at  Westminster. 

In  committee  of  supply  the  estimates  are  taken 
department  by  department.  Each  minister  is 
in  charge  of  the  estimates  for  his  department. 
It  is  his  business,  at  this  time,  to  answer  criti- 
cisms, and  to  defend  any  items  in  the  estimates 
that  are  challenged  by  the  opposition. 

Carrying  the  estimates  through  committee  is 
a  long  process.  It  involves  much  close  work  on 
the  floor  of  the  house  for  ministers,  especially 
for  ministers  in  charge  of  spending  departments, 
such  as  the  departments  of  public  works,  rail- 
ways and  canals,  the  interior,  and  marine  and 
fisheries. 

A  large  part  of  the  session  is  occupied  with  these 
votes  of  money.  But  some  of  the  most  effective 
work  of  the  house  is  done  at  the  numerous  sit- 
tings in  committee;  for  in  committee  of  supply 
the  house  can  exercise  close  supervision  of  the 

[418] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

expenditures,  administration,  and  general  policies 
of  all  the  state  departments. 

No  matter  how  large  a  majority  a  government   Check 
may   have,    or   how   mechanically    obedient    its   ^JJ  ^^^^ 
majority  may  be  to  the  summons  and  instructions   methods 
of   the   government   whips,   the  fact   that  there 
will  be  detailed  and  searching  discussion  by  the 
opposition  of  the  estimates  is,  in  itself,  a  check 
on  slipshod  methods,  and  on  plans  and  policies 
that  will  not  admit  of  full  discussion  in  committee 
of  supply. 

The  house  is  not  continuously  in  committee  of  Appro- 
supply.  The  vote  for  one  department  is  carried.  ?^f*^°° 
Then  some  other  business  is  taken  up,  and  when 
this  is  finished  the  house  again  goes  into  com- 
mittee. After  all  the  votes  have  been  passed, 
they  are  embodied  in  what  is  known  as  the 
"  appropriation  bill."  The  final  stages  of  this 
bill  are  taken  in  the  closing  days  of  the  session, 
in  order  to  get  the  supplies  of  the  whole  year  into 
one  bill. 

The  appropriation  bill,  after  it  has  been  passed    Appro- 
by  the  senate,  is  returned  to  the  commons;    and   ^/^^^°^ 
when  the  royal  assent  is  about  to  be  given  to   bar  of 
this  and  other  bills,  and  the  commons  are  sum-    ^®°^*® 
moned  to  the  senate  chamber  for  the  purpose, 
the  bill  which  grants  money  for  the  service  of 
the  crown  is  carried  by  the  speaker  to  the  bar 
of  the  senate,  and  handed  by  him  to  the  clerk 
of  the  parliament  to  receive  the  royal  assent. 
The  final  stage  of  the  appropriation  bill  is  in 

C419] 


than 
financial 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Final         an  ordinary  session  the  only  occasion  on  which 

am)ro-°      ^^^  Speaker  is  the  representative  of  the  house  in 

priation      communications  with  the  governor-general;  for  it 

will  be  recalled  that  when  the  house  has  adopted 

an    address   of  thanks   to   the   governor-general 

for  the  speech  from  the  throne,  at  the  opening 

of  the    session,    it    delegates    by    resolution,    to 

members    of   the    privy    council  —  to    members 

of   the    cabinet  —  the    duty    of   presenting    the 

address  to  the  governor-general. 

Govern-         Government  bills  are  those  which  come  to  the 

™®g*         house  from  the  cabinet.     All  these  bills  originate 

other         in   one  or   other  of  the  state   departments;  for 

every  government  bill  alters  or  varies  the  functions 

and  responsibilities,  or  throws  new  functions  and 

responsibilities  on  some  executive  department. 

A  government  bill  intended  to  effect  momentous 
or  far-reaching  changes,  or  embodying  an  impor- 
tant policy  of  the  government,  is  sometimes  intro- 
duced by  the  premier,  who  nowadays  is  always 
free  of  the  responsibilities  of  a  heavily  burdened 
state  department.  Otherwise,  it  is  the  rule  that 
a  government  bill  is  introduced  by  the  minister 
who  is  at  the  head  of  the  department  in  which  the 
bill  originated. 
Caucus  Members  on  the  government  side  of  the  house 

°^  know   beforehand  the  principles   and   main  lines 

govern-  . 

ment         of  a  government  bill.     These  they  learn  in  caucus 
^^^^  in  the  early  days  of  the  session;   and  in  this  way 

the  caucus  serves  as  a  link  between  the  govern- 
ment forces  in  the  house  and  the  cabinet. 
[420] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 


In  the  case  of  a  government  bill  of  first-class 
importance,  there  is  usually  a  caucus  on  the  bill 
sometime  between  its  introduction  and  second- 
reading  stage;  and  from  the  rank  and  file  on  the 
government   benches  loyal   support  is  expected. 

A  government  suflPers  a  loss  of  prestige  in 
parliament  and  in  the  constituencies  if  it  is  com- 
pelled by  division  within  its  ranks,  or  by  the  tac- 
tics of  the  opposition,  to  abandon  a  bill  that  has 
been  announced  in  the  speech  from  the  throne 
at  the  opening  of  the  session. 


Loss  of 
prestige 
when  a 
biUis 
aban- 
doned 


XII.  The  Closure 

A  government  must  in  each  regular  session 
carry  through  parliament  the  finance  bill  and  the 
appropriation  bill.  Each  session,  also,  there  are 
two  or  three  important  bills,  embodying  its 
policies,  that  it  is  essential  to  its  success  as  a 
government  should  be  enacted. 

Despite  these  conditions  it  was  1913  before 
any  government  had,  by  the  rules,  sufficient 
command  over  the  time  of  the  house  of  commons 
to  prevent  its  legislative  plans  from  being  thwarted 
by  obstruction  and  filibustering  by  the  opposition. 
The  house  of  commons  at  Ottawa  was  late  among 
legislative  bodies  in  the  English-speaking  world 
in  adopting  a  closure  rule. 

By  filibustering  the  Conservative  opposition  in 
191 1  made  it  impossible  for  the  Laurier  govern- 
ment to  carry  a  reciprocity  bill  through  the  house 

[421] 


Parlia- 
mentary 
program 
of 

govern- 
ment 


Obstruc- 
tion and 
fili- 
bustering 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Affli- 
buster 
that 
ended 
fili- 
bustering 

Clostire 
rule 
of  1913 


Old 

rules 
that 
per- 
mitted 
minority 
to 
control 


of  commons.  Obstruction  to  the  bill  forced  the 
Liberal  government  to  advise  the  governor- 
general  to  dissolve  a  parliament  which,  in  the 
normal  course,  had  still  nearly  two  and  a  half 
years  to  run. 

Two  sessions  later  —  in  1913 — the  Liberals, 
then  in  opposition,  attempted  similar  tactics  on 
the  bill  of  the  Borden  government  for  a  grant 
of  thirty-five  million  dollars  to  be  expended  in 
adding  three  battleships  to  the  British  navy. 

Realizing  after  parliament  had  been  in  session 
for  five  months  that  no  progress  was  being  made, 
and  that  the  opposition  was  intent  on  forcing  the 
abandonment  of  the  navy  bill  by  obstruction, 
the  Borden  government  proposed  the  adoption 
of  a  new  rule.  The  rule,  which  is  now  in  force, 
prohibits  debate  at  certain  technical  stages  of 
a  bill  preliminary  to  those  that  have  been  here 
described,  and  also  empowers  a  member  of  the 
cabinet  to  move  that  there  be  a  time  limit  to  a 
debate,  either  in  the  house  or  in  committee  of 
the  whole.  With  the  closure  rule  thus  brought 
into  operation  no  speaker  can  hold  the  floor  for 
longer  than  twenty  minutes. 

In  explaining  the  need  and  purpose  of  the  new 
rule,  Borden  reminded  the  house  that  under  the 
then  existing  rules  there  were  nineteen  stages,  in- 
cluding committee,  at  which  it  was  possible  for 
members  to  discuss  a  measure.  He  stated  also 
that  it  had  been  affirmed  by  some  members  of  the 
house  that  it  was  absolutely  impossible  for  the 

[422] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 


majority  to  pass  any  measure  without  the  consent 
of  the  minority.^ 

Long  before  1913  there  had  been  a  widespread 
conviction  in  the  Dominion  that  an  amendment 
of  the  rules  of  the  house  was  necessary.  "  Liberty 
of  speech  in  the  commons,"  the  Globe,  of  Toronto, 
a  Liberal  journal,  had  declared  during  the  parha- 
mentary  crisis  of  1911,^  "has  degenerated  into 
license,  and  half  a  dozen  inveterate  talkers  bore 
a  weary  house  with  talks  that  were  old  two 
thousand  years  ago,  until  the  wonder  is  that 
enough  members  can  be  induced  to  remain  in  the 
chamber  to  make  a  quorum." 

Members  of  the  Liberal  administration  in  the 
general  election  of  191 1  had  also  given  pledges 
that  if  the  Liberals  were  again  returned  to  power 
the  rules  of  the  house  should  be  promptly  amended 
so  as  to  make  impossible  filibustering  like  that 
which  compelled  the  Laurier  government  to 
abandon  the  reciprocity  bill. 

The  new  rule  was,  however,  treated  by  the 
Liberal  opposition  as  a  party  measure.  There 
were  nine  days  of  debate  on  it,  and  the  rule  was 
carried  only  by  a  parliamentary  manoeuver  by 
which  the  opposition  was  foiled  in  its  intention 
of  obstructing  its  adoption.^ 

The  objections  made  by  the  Liberals  were  that 
the  new  rule  endangered  freedom  of  speech; 
that  it  would  tend  to  Americanize  the  Canadian 

1  Cf.  H.  C.  Debates,  April  9,  1913.  *  April  22,  191 1. 

*  Cf.  "Canadian  Annual  Review,"  1913,  164-167. 

[423] 


AUberty 
of  speech 
that  was 
long 
abused 


Liberals 
promise 
to  end 
filibus- 
tering 


They 
oppose 
the  new 
rule 


"Ameri- 
canizing 
Canadian 
parlia- 
ment" 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Oppo- 
sition 
from 
French 
Canada 


French- 
Cana- 
dians 
fear 
a  star 
chamber 


Less 
drastic 
than 
closure 
rules  at 
West- 
minster 
and 

Washing- 
ton 


parliament  and  establish  the  tyranny  of  the 
political  boss. 

From  Quebec  there  was  a  specific  and  remark- 
able objection.  "My  province  at  the  time  of 
Confederation/'  said  Lemieux,  who  had  been 
postmaster-general  in  the  Laurier  administration, 
"accepted  the  compact  of  Cartier  and  Mac- 
donald  that  the  rules,  usages,  and  customs  of  the 
British  house  of  commons  up  to  1867  should  be 
binding  on  the  parliament  of  Canada  in  the 
future.  Therefore,  you  have  no  right  to  impose 
on  the  minority  in  this  house  rules  which  have 
been  created  since  1867  —  rules  which  tend  to 
abridge  the  rights  of  the  minority." 

Lemieux  was  apprehensive  that  the  new  rule 
would  jeopardize  the  rights  of  French-Canadians. 
"Has  any  one  the  right,"  he  asked,  "to  alter  a 
compact  —  to  change  the  constitution;  for  the 
rules  adopted  in  1867  are  embodied  in  that  com- 
pact, in  that  constitution;  and  you  cannot  deface 
them.  Canada,  with  such  drastic  rules,  is  no 
longer  government  by  parliament  but  by  the 
cabinet.     It  is  a  revival  of  the  star  chamber."  ^ 

The  rules  as  they  stood  after  the  amendment 
of  1913  —  an  amendment  adopted  by  a  vote  of 
108  to  73  —  as  regards  closure  of  debate  and  the 
shutting  off  of  amendments  in  committee  —  are 
not  nearly  so  comprehensive  or  so  drastic  as  the 
closure  rules  at  Westminster  or  at  Washington. 
There  is  no  debate  under  a  five  or  a  ten  minute 


1  H.  C.  Debates,  April  14-15,  1913. 


[424] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

rule,  as  there  is  in  the  house  of  representatives; 
and  no  closure  by  compartments,  as  there  is  in 
the  British  house  of  commons. 

All  substantial  or  obviously  bona-fide  motions  Bona- 
which  bring  into  question  the  propriety  of  passing 
any  bill  or  vote  are  as  debatable  today  as  they  were  stui 
before  1913;  and  at  least  one  day's  notice  must 
be  given  from  the  treasury  bench  of  the  intention 
of  the  government  to  move  that  a  continued 
debate  shall  not  be  further  adjourned. 

The    rules    as    they    stood    before    191 3    were   Old  rules 
adapted  to  conditions  which  ceased  to  exist  at  the   ""^*  °* 
turn  of  the  twentieth  century,  when  the  great   vinciai 


fide 
debate 


safe- 
guarded 


material    expansion   of    Canada   began   and    the 
Dominion  took  rank  among  nations. 


era  of 
Canada 


members 


XIII.  Private    Members'    Bills    and   Private 
Bill  Legislation 

A  private  or  unofficial  member  of  the  house  of  Oppor- 
commons  has  at  least  four  opportunities  of  *^**** 
exercising  his  parliamentary  abilities,  and  con-  private 
vincing  his  constituency  that  he  can  be  of  service 
at  Ottawa.  They  are  opportunities,  moreover, 
that  are  distinct  from  the  service  he  renders  as  a 
supporter  of  the  government  or  a  member  of  the 
opposition,  or  as  a  member  of  a  standing  com- 
mittee; and  distinct  also  from  the  local  service 
which  every  member  is  expected  to  render  to  his 
constituency. 

Under  the  rules  it  is  possible  for  a  private 

C425] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION    OF   CANADA 


Ques- 
tions to 
ministers 


Rules 

as  to 
ques- 
tions 


Oral  and 

written 

answers 


Value  of 
ques- 
tions 


Attention 

directed 

to 

matters 

of  urgent 

public 

impor- 


member  to  address  to  ministers  questions  of 
which  written  notice  has  been  given,  and  also 
questions  of  which  written  notice  has  not  been 
given,  which  are  addressed  to  ministers  when  the 
orders  of  the  day  are  moved,  or  at  the  adjourn- 
ment of  the  house. 

Questions  may  be  put  to  ministers  relating  to 
public  affairs;  and  to  other  members  relating  to 
any  bill,  motion,  or  other  public  matter  con- 
nected with  the  business  of  the  house.  In  putting 
a  question  no  argument  or  opinion  can  be  offered; 
and  a  minister  in  replying  to  a  question  must  not 
argue  or  put  forward  any  opinion. 

Answers  to  some  questions  are  given  orally. 
To  others  the  answers  are  in  writing.  In  either 
case  the  answers  are  embodied  in  the  official 
report  of  the  debate. 

Much  information  of  Dominion-wide  value  is 
thus  at  times  elicited  from  ministers;  and  infor- 
mation of  value  to  a  province,  or  to  particular 
interests  in  a  province,  is  forthcoming  at  almost 
every  sitting  of  the  house  through  these  formal 
and  informal  questions. 

A  member  may  at  any  sitting  of  the  house 
initiate  a  discussion  on  a  definite  matter  of  urgent 
public  importance,  provided  twenty  members 
rise  in  their  places  to  support  his  motion  for  leave 
to  move  the  adjournment  of  the  house. 

The  discussion  takes  place  on  the  motion  so 
made  for  adjournment.  The  rules  carefully 
safeguard  this  valuable  privilege.     A  motion  to 

[426] 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

discuss   a   matter  of  urgent   public    importance   Rules 
cannot    be    made   to    revive    a    discussion    of   a   ^^^°^ 
matter  previously  discussed  in  the  same  session  of   motions 
parliament.     The  motion  must  not  anticipate  a   ^^'journ- 
matter  —  bill,  motion,  or  vote  —  which  has  been   ment 
previously    appointed   for  consideration   by    the 
house,  and  it  must  not  raise  a  question  of  privilege. 

In  a  country  of  immense  area  like  Canada,  and    Peculiar 
of  varying  climatic  conditions,  the  privilege  of  ^g"*** 
every  private  member  of  thus  calling  the  atten-   motions 
tion  of  the  house  and  the  government  to  a  matter 
of  urgent  public  importance  is  of  peculiar  value. 
Members  avail  themselves  of  it  to  call  attention 
to  an  unexpected  failure  of  a  crop;  to  a  disaster 
to  a  fishing  fleet;  or  to  a  labor  dispute  of  a  far- 
reaching  character.     The  privilege  may  also  be 
exercised  to  call  attention  to  international  com- 
plications, such  as  may  arise  in  connection  with 
Asiatics  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  or  some  incident  on 
the  American  border  line. 

A    statement    for    the    government   follows    a   Times 
motion  on  an  urgent  matter  of  public  importance;   f^^^^ 
and  in  times  of  stress  or  crisis  such  statements   or 
have  a  quieting  influence,  particularly  in  cases  *^^*® 
of  great  disasters;    for  in  such  cases  the  debate 
on   the   motion   elicits   from   the   government   a 
statement   of  the   steps   it   is   taking   to   aflPord 
relief. 

A  third  opportunity  afforded  to  private  members  Motions 
is  that  of  submitting  motions  to  the  house  in  favor  ^  '*^°' 
of   reforms    or    amendments    of  the    law.     The   reforma 

[427] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Private 

members' 

bills 


Private- 

blU 

legls- 


Propa- 
ganda 
for 
reform 


Govern- 
ment 
accept- 
ance of 
private 
members' 
UUs 


fourth  is  the  opportunity  open  to  members  of 
submitting  bills  to  the  house. 

Private  members'  bills  are  distinguished  from 
(i)  bills  originating  with  the  government  and 
(2)  private-bill  legislation  —  a  description  which 
comprises  divorce  bills  and  bills  for  the  incor- 
poration of  transport,  industrial,  and  financial 
undertakings  and  of  ecclesiastical,  educational, 
and  philanthropic  institutions. 

The  stages  of  all  bills  coming  within  the  term 
"private-bill  legislation"  are  the  same  as  those  of 
bills  which  originate  with  the  government,  or  with 
private  members,  with  one  important  exception. 
The  detailed  examination  and  perfecting  of  bills 
incorporating  undertakings  or  institutions,  and 
the  exercise  of  vigilance  in  safe-guarding  the  pub- 
lic interests,  are  largely  the  work  of  the  standing 
committees,  to  which  the  bills  are  referred  after 
they  have  been  read  a  second  time  in  the  house. 

Much  effective  propaganda  work  for  amend- 
ments or  extensions  of  laws  is  accomplished  by 
motions  by  private  members  and  by  private 
members'  bills.  The  case  for  amendment  or  ex- 
tension is  impressed  on  the  government;  and  by 
discussion  of  these  motions  or  bills  in  the  house, 
newspaper  and  other  popular  support  is  secured. 

It  not  infrequently  happens  that  as  an  outcome 
of  these  discussions,  and  the  sympathetic  interest 
they  arouse  in  the  house  of  commons  and  in  the 
constituencies,  the  government  undertakes  to 
introduce  a  bill  for  the  reform  suggested  by  the 

C428] 


meats 
effected 


bills 


PrivUege 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS 

private  member  or  gives  its  support  to  the  bill 

which  the  private  member  has  introduced. 

Apart  from  the  effect  on  the  government  of  the    Amend 

discussion  of  private  members'  bills  and  motions, 

at  each  session  of  parliament  quite  a  number  of  by 

beneficent  amendments  to  the  law  are  made  by   p^^**® 

-'    mem- 
private  members'  bills.     There  is  no  chance  for   bers' 

a  private  member's  bill  if  the  government  is  hos- 
tile to  it.  In  that  event  supporters  of  the  govern- 
ment act  on  the  instructions  of  the  whip,  and  the 
bill  fails  of  second  reading. 

Questions  of  privilege  cannot  be  raised  as 
questions  of  urgent  public  importance.  But  they 
may  be  raised  at  any  sitting  at  the  time  the 
orders  of  the  day  are  moved.  Scores  of  questions 
of  privilege  are  raised  at  every  session. 

Occasionally  they  arise  out  of  revelations  in    sensi- 

special    committees    or   in    investigations    before   **^®^«** 

royal  commissions.     Much  more  frequently  privi-   news- 

lege  is  invoked  in  order  that  members  may  correct   ^^^\ 
.  .  r      1     •      criticism 

maccurate    reports   m    the   newspapers   of  their 

speeches  in  the  house,  or  repudiate  interpretations 

of  their  speeches  which  have  been  published  on 

the  editorial   pages  of  the  newspapers.     Among 

members  of  legislative  bodies  in  English-speaking 

countries,  members  of  the  house  of  commons  of 

Canada  are  most  sensitive  to  newspaper  criticism. 


C429] 


CHAPTER  XV 


THE  NATIONAL  POLICY  OF  THE 
DOMINION 

Scope  of  TN  the  thirty-five  years  from  1879  to  19 14, 
p*y°y^'^  A  and  in  particular  from  1879  to  1897,  there 
was  no  phrase  in  poHtical  discussion  in  Canada 
in  more  frequent  use  than  the  one,  "the  National 
PoHcy  of  the  Dominion."  In  the  earHer  part  of 
the  period  the  term  was  used  to  describe  (i) 
the  imposition  of  duties  in  the  Dominion  tariff 
to  protect  home  industries  against  all  outside 
competition;  (2)  the  paying  of  bounties  from  the 
Dominion  treasury  to  aid  the  upbuilding  of  indus- 
try; and  (3)  the  attempt  to  secure  reciprocity 
agreements  with  the  United  States  and  other  non- 
British  countries,  with  a  view  to  extending  the 
export  trade  of  the  Dominion. 
Exten-  In  the  decade  before  the  war  the  phrase  had 

of°us  come  to  have  a  meaning  much  more  comprehen- 
scope  sive.  It  included,  as  of  old,  protectionist  duties 
in  the  interest  of  Canadian  industries.  It  in- 
cluded, until  191 1,  lavish  bounties  to  iron  and  steel 
companies  in  Nova  Scotia,  Quebec,  and  Ontario. 
But  it  also  included  (i)  the  continuous  and  wide 
immigration  propaganda  for  the  peopling  of  the 
provinces  west  of  the  Great  Lakes,  and  (2)  the 
development  of  the  national  grain  route,  by  rail, 
[430] 


THE  NATIONAL  POLICY 

lake,    and    canal,    from    all    the    grain-growing 
provinces  to  tidewater  ports  on  the  Atlantic. 


I.  The  Development  of  the   hiational  Policy 

There  were  protective  tariffs  in  Canada  twenty 
years  before  the  phrase  "National  Policy"  was 
brought  into  general  use  by  the  Macdonald 
government  in  1879.  The  United  Provinces  of 
Upper  and  Lower  Canada  had  been  under  a 
protectionist  tariff  for  eight  years  before  Con- 
federation. In  British  Columbia  a  protective 
tariff  was  in  operation  from  1867  until  the  province 
came  into  Confederation  in  1871. 

The  Pacific  Coast  province,  like  the  United 
Provinces  and  the  Maritime  Provinces,  had  also 
agitated  for  reciprocity  with  the  United  States; 
and  while  it  was  still  an  independent  and  isolated 
colony,  British  Columbia  had  offered  bounties 
for  the  encouragement  of  the  iron  and  woolen 
industries,  thus  anticipating  a  part  of  the  National 
Policy  that  was  not  adopted  by  the  Dominion 
government  until  1883,  when  bounties  to  encour- 
age the  production  of  pig  iron  were  first  paid  from 
the  treasury  at  Ottawa. 

The  first  attempt  to  establish  a  National  Policy 
for  the  Dominion  was  made  in  1870,  by  the  Mac- 
donald government  of  1 867-1 871.  As  it  was 
developed  at  that  time  the  National  Policy 
included  protective  duties  on  only  some  Canadian 
products;    and  an  offer,  embodied  in  the  tariff, 

[431] 


Origin  of 
National 
PoUcy 


Antici- 
pations 
of 

National 
Policy  by 
British 
Coltimbla 


First 

attempt 

to 

establish 

Dominion 

National 

Policy 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

of  reciprocity  with  the  United  States.  In  this 
tariff  of  1870  there  were  no  increases  in  the  duties 
on  manufactured  goods.  These  duties  then  stood 
at  fifteen  per  cent,  as  imposed  by  the  tariff  of  the 
United  Provinces  enacted  in  1866. 
Low  Confederation  was  in  sight  in  1866;   and  duties 

^^         in  the  tariff  enacted  in  that  year  were  made  less 
Confed-     protective  than  in  the  tariffs  of  the  United  Prov- 
eration       Jnces  from  1858  to  1866,  in  order  to  ease  the  way 
into  Confederation  for  Nova  Scotia,  New  Bruns- 
wick,  and   Prince  Edward   Island,   provinces  in 
which  there  had  never  been  any  protective  duties. 
Mac-  ^  y^ie    protective    duties    in    the    first   National 

theory  of    PoHcy   tariff  were   on   coal,    salt,   wheat,   flour, 
how  and  hops.     In  the  tariff  of  1866  all  these  articles 

ity  were  on  the  free  list.     They  were  made  dutiable 

coiud  be     in  the  tariff  of  1870  in  accordance  with  a  theory  of 
Macdonald's  that  if  Canada  was  ever  to  succeed 
in  negotiating  a  second  treaty  of  reciprocity  — 
if  it  was  ever  to  have  another  era  of  valuable 
trade  relations  with  the  United  States,  like  that 
which  was  enjoyed  under  the  Elgin-Marcy  treaty 
of  1 854-1 866  —  the  government  at  Washington 
must  be  made  to  feel  that  it  was  in  the  power  of 
the   government  at  Ottawa  to  restrict  trade  of 
the  United  States  with  Canada. 
Washing-       The  tariff  of  1870  produced  no  results  at  Wash- 
i^ores       ingtou.     There  were  no  overtures  from  the  govern- 
offer  ment  of  the  United  States  for  a  renewal  of  the 

°^^^''°       trade  relations  of  1 854-1 866.     The  duty  of  fifty 
cents  a  ton  on  anthracite  and  bituminous  coal, 
C432] 


THE  NATIONAL  POLICY 

imposed  in  the  interest  of  the  bituminous  coal 
mines  of  Nova  Scotia,  worked,  moreover,  great 
hardship  on  the  people  of  Montreal  and  of  the 
province  of  Ontario. 

Ontario  in  1870  was  the  only  wheat-growing  Aim  of 
province,  and  the  only  province  in  which  com-  ^J^^q 
mercial  milling  was  estabHshed.  It  had  long 
been  exporting  wheat  and  flour  to  the  United 
Kingdom,  and  also  to  Newfoundland.  The  new 
duties  were  intended  to  encourage  grain  growing 
and  mining,  by  compelling  the  Maritime  Provinces 
to  draw  their  supplies  from  Ontario.  Ontario 
was  to  be  forced  to  use  the  coal  of  a  province 
that  was  over  a  thousand  miles  from  its  western 
border;  and  in  return  for  the  favors  to  the  coal 
owners  at  Sydney,  Island  of  Cape  Breton,  the 
people  of  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick,  were 
to  be  forced  to  buy  their  wheat  and  flour  from 
Ontario. 

Both  in  Ontario  and  in  the  Maritime  Provinces   Popular 
the    new    duties    provoked    much    popular    dis-   J^°^^*y 
satisfaction,  especially  in  the  Maritime  Provinces,    tariff 
where   a   protectionist  tariff  was   regarded   as   a 
breach    of   the    compact    at    Confederation.     At 
this  time  Ontario  was  the  only  province,  east  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  in  which  the  protectionist 
movement,   begun   in   1857-1858,  had  made  any 
appreciable  headway.     Even   in  Ontario  it  was 
a  movement  that  in  1 870-1 871  had  secured  sup- 
port only  in  a  few  manufacturing  centers. 

There  was  so  much  agitation  in  Ontario  against 

[433] 


Policy 
of  1870 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

Abandon-   the  coal  duty,  and  so  much  agitation  in  Nova 
^®^*         Scotia  and  New    Brunswick   against   the  duties 
National     on  wheat  and  flour,  that  in  1871  Macdonald  was 
forced  to  abandon  the  National  PoHcy  of  1870; 
and  it  was  1879  before  the  Dominion  was  com- 
mitted to  a  high   protectionist  tariff;   and  1883 
before  a  bounty  system  for  the  encouragement 
of  the  iron  and  steel  industry  was  adopted. 
Re-  A   Conservative   government   was    responsible 

m^t"^^'   ^^^   ^^^    unsuccessful   attempt    of   1 870-1 871    to 
of  establish  the  National  Policy.     The  Conservatives 

National     y^QYe    also    responsible    for    the    system    finally 
In  1879      established    in    1879.     From    1878    to    1896   the 
Liberals  were  in  opposition  at  Ottawa.     During 
these  eighteen  years  they  continuously  denounced 
the  tariff  policy  of  the  Conservatives,  and  from 
1883    to    1896   they  were   equally   vigorous   and 
persistent  in  their  denunciation  of  the  payment  of 
bounties  for  the  encouragement  of  the  iron  and 
steel  industries.^ 
Liberals         In   1 897  the  Liberals,  who  were  in  power  at 
accept       Ottawa   from    1896  to   191 1,   adopted   both   the 

National  .„  ,    ,  i-    .  r     i      V-, 

PoUcy        tariff  and  bounty  pohcies  of  the  Conservatives. 

They    greatly     extended     the     bounty     system. 

They  increased  many  of  the  protective  duties; 

and  in  tariff  policy  they  made  one  innovation 
entiai  of  far-reaching  political  importance.  They  estab- 
**^         lished  a  preferential  tariff  for  imports  from  the 

United  Kingdom;   forged  another  link  of  empire; 

1  Cf.  Edward  Porritt,  "  Iron  and  Steel  Bounties  in  Canada," 
Political  Science  ^uarUrly,  Vol.  xxii,  No.  2  (i907)>  I94-I9S- 

[434] 


and 

establish 

a 

British 

prefer- 


THE  NATIONAL  POLICY 

impelled  Great  Britain  in  1897  to  change  a  long- 
existing  policy  in  regard  to  commercial  treaties; 
and  incidentally  provoked  a  tariff  war  between 
the  Dominion  and  the  German  Empire  that  lasted 
from  1903  to  1 9 10. 


II.   The  British  Preferential  Tariffs  of  1897 
and  igoy 

The  reductions  in  the  tariff  in  favor  of  imports 
from  the  United  Kingdom  were  made  gradually 
in  the  three  years  from  1897  to  1900.  The  original 
plan  was  that  from  July,  1900,  these  imports 
should  be  chargeable  only  with  two-thirds  of  the 
duties  imposed  on  imports  from  the  United  States 
and  other  non-British  countries. 

From  July,  1900,  to  June,  1904,  all  imports 
from  the  United  Kingdom  were  admitted  on  these 
favorable  terms.  But  Canadian  manufacturers, 
through  their  national  association,  loudly  pro- 
tested against  this  new  competition  from  British 
manufacturers;  and  in  1904  and  1907  —  particu- 
larly in  1907,  when  there  was  a  general  revision 
of  the  tariff,  and  many  increases  in  duties  —  the 
preference  was  curtailed,  and  the  tariff  made 
more  protective  against  British  imports. 

At  the  revision  in  1907  the  principle  of  a  uniform 
reduction  of  one  third  in  favor  of  British  imports 
was  abandoned.  The  government  then  adopted 
the  plan  of  a  tariff  in  three  divisions  —  a  plan 
that  will  be  easily  understood  from  the  accom- 

C435] 


Reduc- 
tions in 
duties 
on 

imports 
from 
United 
Kinsdon 


Hostility 
of 

Canadian 
manu- 
facturers 
—  pref- 
erence 
curtailed 


Tariff 
in  three 
divi- 
sions 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 
SCHEDULE  A 


Tariff 
Items. 


403 
403a 


British 

Inter- 

referential 

mediate 

GeiMml 

Tariff, 

Tariff. 

Tariff. 

Wire,  crucible  cast  steel,  valued  at  not  less 

than  six  cents  per  pound Free.         6  px.        5  p.c. 

Steel  wire  valued  at  not  less  than  two  and 

three-quarter    cents    per   pound   when 

imported  by  manufacturers  of  rope  for 

use  exclusively  in  the  manufacture  of 

rope;  and  also  wire  rope  for  use  exclu- 
sively for  rigging  of  ships  and  vessels — 

under  regulations   by   the   Minister   of 

Customs Free.         Free.         Free^ 

404  See  Tariff  Amendment,  June  12,  1914. 

405  Buckthorn  strip  fencing,  woven  wire  fenc- 

ing, a,nd  wire  fencing  of  iron  or  steel, 
n.o.p.,  not  to  include  woven  wire  or 
netting  made  from  wire  smaller  than 
number  fourteen  gauge  nor  to  include 
fencing  of  wire  larger  than  number  nine 
gauge. , 10  p.c-       12i  p.c.     15  p.c. 

406  Wire  of  all  metals  and  kinds,  n.o.p 15  p.c.       17  j  p.c.     20  p.c. 

407  Wire,    single    or    several,    covered    with- 

cotton,    linen,    silk,    rubber    or    other 

material,  including  cable  so  covered 20  p.c.      27^  p.c.     30  p.c. 

408  Wire    rope,    stranded    or    twisted    wire, 

clothes  lines,  picture  and  other  twisted 

wire  and  wire  cable,  n.o.p 17^  p.c.     22J  p.c      25  p.c. 

409  Wire  cloth  or  woven  wire,  and  wire  netting, 

of  iron  or  steel 20  p.c.       27^  p.c.     30  p.c. 

410  See  Tariff  Amendment,  June  12,  1914. 

411  See  Tariff  Amendment,  June  12,  1914. 

412  Iron  or  steel  nuts,   washers,   rivets,   and 

bolts,  with  or  without  threads;  nut,  bolt 
and  hinge  blanks;  and  T  and  strap  hinges 

of  all  kinds,  n.o.p per 

one  hundred  pounds  75  cents.  75  cents.  75  cents, 
and  10  p.c.       20  p.c.       25  p.c. 

413  Screws,  commonly  called  "wood  screws," 

of  iron  or  sted,  brass  or  other  metal, 
including  lag  or  coach  screws,  plated  or 
not,  and  machine  or  other  screws,  n.o.p.  22i  p.c.     30  p.c.      35'p.c. 

414  Iron  or  steel  cut  nails  and  spikes  (ordinary 

builders') ;  and  railroad  spikes per 

one  hundred  pounds.  30  cents.  45  cents.  60  cents. 

415  Composition  nails  and  spikes  and  sheathing 

nails 10  p.c.       12^  p.c.     15  p.c. 

416  Wire  nails  of  all  kinds,  n.o.p per 

one  hundred  pounds .  40  cents.  55  cents.  60  cents. 

417  Nails,  brads,  spikes  and  tacks  of  all  kinds, 

n.o.p 20  p.c.       30  p.c.       35  p.c. 

418  Wire  cloth,  or  woven  wire  of  brass  or 

copper .-.....'......  17tp.c.     22^  p.c.     25  p.c. 


[436] 


THE  NATIONAL  POLICY 


panying  facsimile  of  a  page  from  the  Dominion 
tariff  as  it  stood  before  the  war.^ 

Under  the  tariff  as  enacted  in  1907  there  are 
(i)  the  British  preferential  tariff;  (2)  an  inter- 
mediate tariff  for  countries  that  make  concessions 
in  their  tariffs  for  imports  from  the  Dominion;  and 
(3)  a  general  tariff,  applicable  to  all  countries  that 
in  their  tariffs  make  no  concessions  to  Canada. 

No  general  principle  was  followed  in  1907  in 
determining  rates  in  the  British  preferential 
tariff.  Consideration  was  given  to  the  opposi- 
tion of  Canadian  manufacturers  of  competing 
goods,  who  demanded  adequate  protection  against 
all  comers,  British  or  non-British.  While  the 
tariff  on  British  imports  was  usually  fixed  at 
rates  below  the  rates  in  the  intermediate  tariff, 
much  care  was  exercised  to  make  it  certain  that 
in  the  British  preferential  tariff  there  should  be 
adequate  protection  for  all  Canadian  manufac- 
turing interests  —  a  procedure  that  necessitated 
many  curtailments  of  the  preference  of  1897-1907. 

From  1897  to  1907  the  preferential  tariff 
stimulated  trade  between  the  United  Kingdom 
and  Canada.  Particularly  was  this  the  case  as 
regards  woolens  and  other  textiles,  some  products 


Protec- 
tion 
inaU 
three 
tariffs 
for 

Canadian 
manu- 
facturers 


Stimu- 
lation of 
British 
trade 


*  The  tariff  act  of  1915  added  seven  and  a  half  per  cent  to 
the  duties  of  the  intermediate  and  general  tariffs;  five  per  cent 
to  the  duties  of  the  preference  division;  and  imposed  a  duty 
of  seven  and  a  half  per  cent  on  many  imports,  mostly  raw 
materials  or  partly  finished  materials,  that  were  formerly 
on  the  free  list. 

C437] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   DOMINION   OF   CANADA 

of  the  secondary  stages  of  the  iron  and  steel  and 
metal    industries,    and    glass,    earthenware,    and 
furniture. 
Propa-  It    was    this    increase    in    trade    between    the 

a^^st       United  Kingdom  and  Canada,  and  the  efforts  of 
con-  manufacturers  in  England  and  Scotland  to  avail 

cessions  themselves  of  the  lower  duties,  that  impelled 
British  Canadian  manufacturers  to  protest.  They  waged 
imports  ^  continuous  propaganda  against  the  British 
preference  at  the  meetings  of  their  association 
and  in  their  newspaper  organs.  They  protested 
to  parliament  in  1904  and  1905;  and  in  the 
winter  of  1905-1906  scores  of  individual  manu- 
facturers appeared  before  the  tariff  commission 
to  demand  more  protection  against  competition 
from  Great  Britain  than  was  afforded  under  the 
tariff  of  1897. 

Several  of  them  characterized  British  competi- 
tion as  foreign  competition,  and  they  all  declared 
that    protection    against    British    manufacturers 
was  as  essential  to  the  success  and  prosperity  of 
Canadian    industries    as    protection    against   the 
manufacturers  of  the  United  States. 
Curtaiie         The  effect  of  the  revised  and  much  curtailed 
^ti^'"       preferential    tariff    in    encouraging    exports    to 
tariff  in      Canada  from  the  United  Kingdom  in  the  years 
rS!l'         ^^^"^    ^9°7  ^°   ^9^4  was  less  obvious  than  the 
effect   of  the   tariff  of   1897.     There   was   some 
increase  in  the  seven  years  before  the  war.     But 
it   was    an    increase   which,   when    measured    in 
customs-house  valuations,  afforded   little  ground 

[438] 


ation 


THE  NATIONAL  POLICY 

for  jubilation  in  manufacturing  communities  in 
the  United  Kingdom,  especially  in  view  of  the 
widespread  enthusiasm  with  which  the  original 
preferential  tariff  was  received  in  Great  Britain/ 
the  enormous  increase  in  emigration  from  Great 
Britain  to  Canada  in  the  twelve  years  that 
preceded  the  war,  the  widespread  prosperity  in 
the  Dominion  from  1904  to  191 2,  and  the  great 
increase  in  the  price  of  manufactured  goods  in 
the  period  from  1900  to  1914. 

III.    The  Political  Effect  in  Canada  of  the 
Preferential  Tariff 

In  the  seventeen  years  from   1897  to  the  be-   Attitude 
ginning  of  the  war,   the   political   effect  of  the   ^onser- 
preferential  tariff,  as  framed  in  1897,  and  revised   vative 
in    1907,   was   much   more   important   than   the   J^^^jg 
economic   effect.     In   Canada   two   political   de-   prefer- 
velopments     followed     the     enactment     of    the 
preference. 

From  1897  to  191 1  the  preference  was  de- 
nounced by  the  Conservatives,  who  in  these 
years  were  in  opposition  at  Ottawa.  The  objec- 
tions of  the  Conservatives  were  (i)  that  Canadian 
manufacturers  must  have  protection  against  all 
comers;  and  (2)  that  Great  Britain  had  given 
Canada  no  tariff  concessions  in  return  for  the 
concessions  in  the  Dominion  tariff. 

^  Cf.  Beckles  Willson,  "Life  of  Lord  Strathcona  and  Mount 
Royal,"  II,  336. 

C439] 


ence 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 

Demand        As  the  United  Kingdom  was  on  a  free-trade 
*^d  basis  from  1846  to  the  beginning  of  the  war,  it 

pro  quo      was  not  possible  for  any  government  at  Whitehall 
to  offer  Canada  an  equivalent  for  the  preference, 
without    effecting    a    revolution    in    the    British 
fiscal  system.     Many  increases  in  the  tariff  were 
made   at  Ottawa   after  the   Conservatives  were 
returned  to  power  at  the  general  election  in  191 1. 
These  increases,  made  in  the  years  from  191 2  to 
1914,  were  intended  to  afford  more  protection  to 
Canadian  manufacturers,  or  to  add  to  the  pro- 
tection   of    fruit    growers    in    British    Columbia, 
against  competition  from  the  United  States. 
Conserv-        As  soon  as  the  Conservatives  were  in  office,  how- 
ative         ever,  they  ceased  to  condemn  the  British  prefer- 
ment        ence;    and  from  191 1  to  the  outbreak  of  the  war 
accepts      ^j^gy  made  no  effort  to  secure  from  the  govern- 
prefer-       ment   at  Whitehall   any   quid   pro   quo   for  the 
ence  lower  duties  first  established   for  imports   from 

the  United  Kingdom  by  the  preferential  tariff  of 
1897.  They  accepted  the  policy  of  the  Liberals 
as  regards  the  preference,  just  as  the  Liberals  in 
1897  had  accepted  the  National  Policy  of  the 
Conservatives  of  the  preceding  eight  years. 
Attitude  Advocates  of  free  trade  in  Canada  welcomed 
*>'  the    preferential    tariff   of    1897,    and    protested 

Interests  against  the  curtailments  made  in  it  in  1904  and 
1907.  The  only  consumers  in  Canada  who  are 
organized  and  articulate  as  such  are  the  grain 
growers  of  Manitoba,  Saskatchewan,  and  Alberta 
and  the  farmers  of  Ontario.  From  1905  onwards 
[440] 


towards 
Iirefer« 


growers 
organize 


THE  NATIONAL  POLICY 

these  organizations  continuously  agitated  for 
lower  duties  in  the  British  preferential  tariff. 
As  the  leaders  of  both  the  Liberal  and  Conserva- 
tive parties  at  Ottawa  as  continuously  ignored 
the  agitation,  the  grain  growers  and  farmers  in 
the  winter  of  1915-1916  launched  an  independent 
movement  in  Dominion  politics. 

The    purpose    of   the    movement  —  the    most   Grain 
considerable  of  all  attempts  in  Canada  from  1867 
to   1918   to  create  a  party  independent  of  the   inde 
Conservative  and  Liberal  parties  —  was  to  secure   ^^y^^ 
direct  representation  of  grain  growers  and  farmers   ment 
in    the    house    of    commons.     In    the    national   dominion 
political  platform  adopted  by  the  grain  growers'    poutics 
associations,   at   their   provincial   conventions   in 
the  winter  of  1916-1917,  there  was  a  demand  for 
an  extension  of  the  British  preference  as  a  means 
of  strengthening  the  bonds  between  Canada  and 
Great    Britain,    and    also    of   bringing    about    a 
reduction  in  the  cost  of  living  in  Canada.^ 

The  innovation  in  tariff  legislation  at  Ottawa   Division 
in  1897  —  an  innovation  in  which  Canada  once 
more  led  the  oversea  dominions  —  thus  resulted    and 
in  raising  a  new  issue  in  Dominion  politics;    and 
the    persistence   with    which    the   grain   growers    interests 
agitated    for    an    extension    of   the    preferential 
tariff   widened    the    political    gulf   between    the 
manufacturing     interests     of    Ontario,     Quebec, 
Nova    Scotia,    and    New    Brunswick,    and    the 

1  Cf.    "A  National   Political   Platform,"   Grain  Growers* 
Guide,  December  13,  1916. 

[441] 


between 
agrarian 


manu- 
factiirlng 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE   DOMINION  OF  CANADA 

agrarian  interests  of  Ontario,  and  of  the  thousand- 
mile  stretch  of  country  that  lies  between  the 
Lake  of  the  Woods  and  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

IV.    The  Tariff  War  of  JQ03-IQIO  with 
Germany 

Ger-  For  the  Empire  at  large  the  preferential  tariff 

^^'^  of  1897  had  quite  far-reaching  consequences, 
1897  some  of  which  developed  out  of  the  aggressive 
attitude  of  Germany  towards  the  new  trade 
relations  of  Canada  with  Great  Britain.  Ger- 
many claimed  that  as  an  empire  with  a  treaty  of 
commerce  with  Great  Britain,  according  it  favored- 
nation  treatment,  it  was  entitled  to  send  its 
exports  to  Canada  on  the  same  terms  as  were 
conceded  under  the  preferential  tariff  to  imports 
from  Great  Britain. 
Great  In  Order  to  leave  Canada,  and  other  oversea 

Britain  possessions  with  responsible  government,  free  to 
nounces  make  their  own  commercial  arrangements  with 
*^°"^"  ,      one    another,    and    with    non-British    countries, 

mercial 

treaties      Great  Britain  in  July,  1897,  —  only  three  months 
after  the  new  tariff"  had  been  enacted  at  Ottawa 
—  denounced  her  commercial  treaties  with  Ger- 
many, Belgium,  Italy,  and  nearly  a  dozen  other 
powers  in  Europe,  Asia,  and  South  America. 
Rounding       The  action  of  Great  Britain  in  regard  to  these 
com-         treaties,  all  of  them,  like  that  with  Germany,  of 
mercial      long  Standing,  and  of  much  value  to  manufacturers 
^ree  om     ^^j  exporters  in  the  United  Kingdom,  completed 
dominions  the  fiscal  and  commercial  freedom  of  Canada. 
[  442  ] 


THE  NATIONAL  POLICY 

It  also  completed  the  fiscal  and  commercial 
freedom  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Australia,  the 
Dominion  of  New  Zealand,  the  Union  of  South 
Africa,  and  the  Dominion  of  Newfoundland;  for 
heretofore,  while  these  oversea  dominions  had  no 
part  in  the  negotiation  of  commercial  treaties 
made  by  Great  Britain,  they  had  all,  like  Canada, 
been  bound  by  British  commercial  treaties  made 
before  1872.  This  was  the  year  when  Great 
Britain  conceded  to  the  colonies  with  responsible 
government  the  option  of  inclusion  in  new  treaties. 

Until  July,  1898,  imports  from  Germany  into   imports 
Canada   were    admitted    under   the    preferential   Qg^^n 
tariff.     Thereafter  imports  from  Germany  paid   pay 
the  duties  imposed  by  the  general  tariff  of  1897    ^^^^^J^^ 
—  the    same    duties    as    were    paid    on    imports   tariff 
from  the  United  States.     Germany  resented  this 
treatment. 

Belgium   agreed   to   a   new   treaty   which   left    Germany 
Canada    and    the    other    dominions    freedom    of  f"^™P*s 

to 

action.     Germany   flatly   refused    a    new   treaty    domineer 
with  Great  Britain  to  replace  the  treaty  of  1865- 
1898.     Her  position  was  that  what  the  oversea 
dominions  conceded  to  Great  Britain  must  also 
be  conceded  to  the  German  Empire. 

What    Lansdowne,    who    was    secretary    for    Reprisals 
foreign    affairs    in    the    Salisbury    and    Balfour   ^e^^by 
governments  of  1 895-1 906,  described  as  a  serious    Germany 
position,  developed  out  of  Germany's  opposition 
to  the  new  commercial  relations  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  dominions. 

C443] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 

Lans-  "It  is  not  merely  that  we  find  Canada  liable 

statT-*  ^     ^^  ^^  made  to  suffer  in  consequence  of  the  differen- 
ment         tial  treatment  which  the  Canadian  government 
house  of    ^^^  afforded  to  us/*  Lansdowne  told  the  house 
lords         of  lords,  on  June  29,  1903,  **but  it  was  actually 
adumbrated    in    an    official    document,    that,    if 
other  colonies  acted  in  the  same  manner  as  Can- 
ada,  the   result  might  be  that  we,  the  mother 
country,  would  find  ourselves  deprived  of  most- 
favored-nation  treatment." 
Germany        "Thus,"  wtote  English  commentators  on  the 
Great        action    of   Germany,    after    the    government    at 
Britain's     Whitehall,  at  the  instance  of  Canada,  had  ended 
uttie^  *^    ^^^  British-German  treaty  of  commerce  of  1865, 
colonies"    "Germany  first  demanded  to  share  in  the  Ca- 
nadian   preference.     And   when   that    attempted 
intrusion   into   the   domestic   life  of  the   British 
Empire  was  forbidden,  we  had  the  threat  that 
England   would    be    punished  in  her  trade  with 
Germany,  if  she  did  not  put  these  naughty  Httle 
colonies  in  their  place."  ^ 
Tariff  The  upshot  of  Germany's  procedure  was  that 

woa^        for  the  first  time  since  Great  Britain  had  adopted 
1910  free  trade  in  1846,  one  dominion  of  the  British 

Empire  was  engaged  from  1903  to  19 10  in  a 
tariff  war.  Germany  was  the  aggressor.  Until 
July,  1898,  Canadian  exports  to  Germany  were 
admitted  under  the  German  minimum  tariff.  As 
soon  as  the  treaty  of  1865  had  expired,  and  ex- 
ports from  Germany  to  Canada  were  consequently 
1  P.  and  A.  Hurd,  "The  New  Empire  Partnership,"  228. 
[444] 


THE  NATIONAL  POLICY 

no  longer  admitted  on  the  same  favorable  terms  as 
exports  from  the  United  Kingdom,  Germany  put 
her  maximum  tariff  into  force  against  Canada. 

"We  did  not,"  said  Fielding,  minister  of  Canada's 
finance  at  Ottawa,  "deny  to  Germany  favored-  Qgrnj^y 
nation  treatment.  We  were  willing  to  give  her 
every  consideration  that  we  gave  to  any  foreign 
government.  But  she  took  offense  because  we 
would  not  treat  her  as  we  did  the  United 
Kingdom."  ^ 

The    Dominion    was    slow    to    retaliate.     The   Efforts 
government  at  Ottawa  conceived  that  there  was    Ottawa 
some  misunderstanding  on  the  part  of  Germany,    to  avoid 
By  diplomatic  correspondence,  and  also  through    ^^ 
the  German  consulate  at  Montreal,  efforts  were 
made  to  assure  Berlin  that  Canada  was  giving  to 
Germany  everything  that  it  gave  to  any  foreign 
country;  that  it  was  conceding  to  Germany  what 
it   conceded   to   France,    although   France,   with 
which   Canada  had  a  treaty  of  commerce  since 
1893,  gave   valuable   concessions   in  return,  and 
Germany  conceded  nothing. 

All  that  Canada  asked  was  that  her  exports  to   Surtax 
Germany  should  again  come  under  the  minimum   German 
tariff.     This   Germany   refused.     Her   maximum   imports 
tariff  was  put  into  force  against  Canada  in  the 
autumn  of  1898;  but  it  was  October,  1903,  before 
Canada  retaliated.     Then,  by  act  of  parliament, 
a  surtax  of  one  third  of  the  duties  of  the  general 
tariff  was  imposed  on  imports  from  Germany. 

*  H.  C.  Debates,  December  14,  1907.  -> 

[445] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE    DOMINION   OF   CANADA 


Peace 
without 
victory  — 
for 
Germany 


The  result  of  the  surtax  was  that  on  many  of 
the  imports  from  Germany  duties  in  the  years 
from  1903  to  19 10  ranged  as  high  as  forty  per 
cent,  the  highest  tariff  duties  ever  in  force  in 
Canada,  until  the  war  tariff  of  191 5  was  enacted. 
There  was  at  once  a  great  reduction  in  Germany's 
export  trade  to  Canada. 

Germany  slowly  realized  that  only  loss  of 
trade  was  resulting  from  persistence  in  the  tariff 
war;  and  in  February,  19 10,  on  overtures  from 
Berlin,  the  tariff  war  was  ended  in  a  peace  without 
victory  for  Germany.^ 


Germany 
no 

tariff 
advan- 
tages 
over 
United 
States 


V.    The  United  States  and  the  British 
Preferential  Tariffs 

Notwithstanding  the  treaty  of  commerce  be- 
tween Great  Britain  and  Germany  of  1 865-1 898 
—  a  treaty  in  which  there  was  a  clause  ^  which 
provided  that  goods  exported  from  Germany 
to  Canada  should  not  be  chargeable  with  higher 
duties  than  were  imposed  on  goods  exported 
from  the  United  Kingdom  to  Canada  —  only 
from  April,  1897,  to  July,  1898,  in  the  thirty- 
three  years  from  1865  to  1897  had  Germany  any 
advantage  over  the  United  States  in  the  export 
trade  to  Canada. 

*  Cf.  Fielding's  Speech,  "House  of  Commons  Debates," 
February  16,  1910. 

2  "A  clause  very  obnoxious  to  the  people,  not  only  of 
Canada,  but  of  the  colonies  generally."  —  Fielding,  H.  C. 
Debates,  April  16,  1903. 

C  446  ] 


THE  NATIONAL  POLICY 


The  United  States  enjoyed  special  advantages 
from  1854  to  1866,  the  years  of  the  Elgin-Marcy 
treaty;  and  since  1883  France  has  continuously  en- 
joyed a  measure  of  special  treatment  in  Canadian 
tariffs,  owing  to  the  existence  of  commercial  treaties 
between  the  Dominion  and  the  French  Republic. 

With  these  exceptions,  until  1897  all  countries, 
British  and  non-British,  exported  goods  to 
Canada  on  the  same  terms.  There  were  no 
tariff  concessions  in  Canada  to  countries  with 
favored-nation  treaties  with  Great  Britain,  be- 
cause it  was  not  until  tariffs  for  the  protection  of 
Canadian  industries  had  been  in  operation  in  the 
United  Provinces  from  1858  to  1867,  and  in  the 
Dominion  from  1867  to  1897,  that  any  concession 
was  made  in  Canadian  tariffs  to  imports  from  the 
United  Kingdom.^ 

No  concession  was  asked  by  Canada  from  the 
United  Kingdom  when  the  original  preferential 
tariff  was  framed.  "England,"  said  Fielding, 
when  he  announced  the  innovation  of  1897  to 
the  house  of  commons,  "has  dealt  generously 
with  us  in  the  past.  She  has  given  us  liberty  to 
tax  her  wares,  even  when  she  admits  ours  free; 
and  we  have  taxed  them  to  an  enormous  degree."  ^ 

Canada  also  asked  nothing  in  return  for  the 
preference  for  British  crown  colonies  in  which 
there  were  tariffs  for  revenue  only;   and  by  191 3 

*  Salt  imported   from  the  United   Kingdom   for  the  sea 
fisheries  of  Canada  has  always  been  on  the  free  list. 
2  H.  C.  Debates,  April  22,  1897. 

[447] 


Countries 
that  had 
advan- 
tages 


Other- 
wise all 
countries 
on  same 
footing 


No 

conces- 
sion 
in 

return 
for 

British 
prefer- 
ence 


Canada 
and 
crown 
colonies 


West 
Indies 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 

twenty-five    crown    colonies    were    participating 
in  the  concessions  of  the  British   preference  of 
1907.^     The    dominions    with    protective    tariffs 
had   to  make  reciprocal  concessions  before  they 
could  share  in  the  preferential  rates  conceded  to 
the  United  Kingdom.     New  Zealand,  Australia, 
and  the  Union  of  South  Africa,  all  made  terms 
with  Canada. 
Recipro-         With  the  nine  West  Indian  colonies  ^  Canada, 
toade         ^^    191 3  >   entered   into   an   elaborate   and   liberal 
with  agreement   for   reciprocal   trade.     The   result   of 

all  these  various  arrangements  was  that  in  the 
year  preceding  the  war,  the  United  Kingdom, 
four  dominions,  and  thirty-four  crown  colonies 
were  all  linked  together  by  the  far-reaching 
innovation  in  tariff  making  at  Ottawa  in  1897, 
which  originated  with  the  Liberal  government  of 
I 896-191 I. 
Canada  There  is  no  country  in  the  world  that  advertises 

ad^-       more   systematically  or  on   a  more  lavish   scale 
tiser  than  Canada.     It  expended  nearly  fifteen  million 

dollars  in  the  years  from  1897  to  19 14,  in  ad- 
vertising itself  in  the  United  Kingdom,  the 
United  States,  and  the  countries  of  continental 
Europe  —  in  making  known  the  opportunities  that 
were  awaiting  immigrants  into  the  Dominion. 
The     preferential    tariff    of    1897    advertised 

1  Cf.  Customs  Tariff,  1907,  Ottawa,  1914,  Appendix  18, 
212. 

2  Trinidad,    British    Guiana,    Barbados,    St.    Lucia,    St. 
Vincent,  Antigua,  St.  Kitts,  Dominica,  and  Montserrat. 

[448] 


THE  NATIONAL  POLICY 

Canada    all    over    the    English-speaking    world   its 
better  than  all  its  immigration  propaganda.     It   ^^g*t^* 
enormously  supplemented   the  lavish   outlay  on    tisement 
printer's     ink    of    the     Dominion     government.    J^^^^^j, 
Magna    Charta,    for    seven    centuries    England's 
great  standing  advertisement,  was  not  promul- 
gated  in    an    act   of  parliament.     With    Magna 
Charta  outside  of  the  category  of  acts  of  parlia- 
ment, it  can  be  said  of  the  preferential  tariff  act 
of  1897  that  it  obtained   for  Canada  more  free 
and   appreciative   advertising  —  oral   as  well   as 
printed  —  than  any  other  country  ever  obtained 
by  means  of  any  act  ever  passed  by  its  legislature, 
parliament,  or  congress. 

Austria  and  Italy  demurred  to  Great  Britain's   Austria 
policy  of  1 897- 1 898  of  freeing  the  Dominions  from   ^ 
obligations  under  the  old  treaties  of  commerce,    demur 
But   Germany,    with    whom    both    Austria    and   ^^^^^ 
Italy  were  then  in  alliance,  was  the  only  country   Britain's 
that  persistently  and  strenuously  objected  to  the   *^^^^ 
restriction    by    the    government    at    Ottawa    of  of  1898 
the  preferential  tariff  to  the  United  Kingdom  and 
the  colonies  of  the  British  Empire. 

The  United  States,  France,  Belgium,  Sweden,   issues 
Norway,  Denmark,  Colombia,  Mexico,  and  Costa   ^*^*^« 

11  11  r     1        r»   •   •  1      countries 

Rica  all  accepted  the  new  status  or  the  British   unsettled 
dominions.     Italy  and  Austria  created  diplomatic   ^^®^ 
obstacles  to  the  new  fiscal  and  commercial  free-   began 
dom  of  Canada  and  the  other  dominions,  obstacles 
which  had  not  been  removed  up  to  the  time  war 
began  in  August,  19 14. 

[449] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 


Talked 
German 
and 

talked  it 
loudly 


No 

objection 
to  prefer- 
ential 
tariff  by 
United 
States 

"An 
arrange- 
ment 
within 
the 
family" 


No 
sug- 
gestion 
of 

retali- 
ation 


But  Germany  was  the  only  country  that 
embarked  on  a  tariff  war  with  Canada,  or  threat- 
ened commercial  reprisals  against  the  United 
Kingdom.  Germany  talked  German,  and  talked 
it  loudly.  It  was  of  no  avail.  The  tariff  war 
with  Canada  would  have  gone  on  indefinitely  if 
Germany  had  not  capitulated  in  1910. 

Great  Britain,  when  she  denounced  her  com- 
mercial treaties  in  1897,  had  no  commercial 
treaty  with  the  United  States  —  at  any  rate  no 
commercial  treaty  quite  comparable  with  the 
British-German  treaty  of  1 865-1 898. 

At  Washington,  however,  there  were  no  objec- 
tions to  the  preferential  tariff.  From  the  time 
of  its  enactment  it  was  regarded  as  a  purely 
domestic  concern  of  the  British  Empire.  Sereno 
E.  Payne,  chairman  of  the  committee  of  ways 
and  means  of  the  house  of  representatives, 
described  it,  in  1909,  as  "an  arrangement  within 
the  family,  to  which  no  exception  could  be 
taken."  Payne  was  quite  as  protectionist  as 
McKinley  or  Dingley,  or  any  other  of  his  Re- 
publican predecessors  in  the  chairmanship  of 
the  committee  at  Washington  in  which  all  tariff 
bills  originate. 

The  Dingley  bill  of  1897  was  before  congress 
when  parliament  at  Ottawa  enacted  the  first 
preferential  tariff.  No  retaliation  was  suggested 
at  that  revision  of  the  United  States  tariff;  and 
there  was  no  suggestion  of  retaliation  at  the 
tariff  revisions  at  Washington  in  1909  or  1913. 

C  450  ] 


THE  NATIONAL  POLICY 

For  the  United  Kingdom  the  preferential  tariff  Far- 

of  1897  had  four  or  five  obvious  results.     It  did  ^^^^^^ 

more  than  forge  a  new  link  of  empire.     It  ended  of 

the  apprehensions,  born  of  the  successful   revolt  ^^|*[" 

of  the  American  colonies  of  1 776-1 783,  that  the  tariff 

British   dominions  with   responsible  government  °  ^^^^ 
would  sooner  or  later  assert  their  independence. 

It  impelled  the  British  government  to  create  a  New 

new    diplomatic    status  —  a    world-standing    of  ^^ 

importance  —  for   Canada,    New   Zealand,    Aus-  status 

tralia,    South    Africa,     and    Newfoundland.     It  ^^^j^j^. 

stimulated  trade  between  the  United  Kingdom  ions 
and  Canada,  and  created  a  new,  widespread,  and 
continuous  popular  interest  in  the  Dominion,  an 
interest  that  by  1905  had  helped  to  turn  the  tide 
of  immigration  from  England  and  Scotland  from 
the  United  States  to  Canada.^ 

Another  of  these  results  of  the  original  prefer-  other 

ential  tariff  was  easier  trade   relations   between  ^°°^~ 

ions 

the  United   Kingdom   and   the  other  dominions,    follow 
New  Zealand  followed  the  example  of  Canada  in    «^™p^® 
1903;    the  Union  of  South  Africa  in  1906;    and    Canada 
the  Commonwealth  of  Australia  in  1907.     New- 
foundland is  the  only  dominion  which  has  made 
no  tariff  concession  to  the  United  Kingdom.      Its 
isolated  position  in  regard  to  the  preference  is  due 
to  the  fact  that  its  tariff  is  exclusively  for  revenue. 
From  1903  to  the  beginning  of  the  war,  and  in 
particular   from    1903    to    1907,   the   preferential 

^  Cf.  Johnson,  "A  History  of  Emigration  from  the  United 
Kingdom  to  North  America,"  1763-1912,  347. 

[451  ] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 

Prefer-  tariff  was  a  factor  in  the  domestic  politics  of  the 
^^  United  Kingdom.  In  1903  Chamberlain,  who  had 
factor  in  been  secretary  of  state  for  the  colonies  since  1895, 
domestic  resigned  that  office  to  devote  himself  to  a  propa- 
poutics  ganda  for  tariff  protection  to  agriculture  and  to  the 
industries  of  the  United  Kingdom,  with  preferences 
for  imports  from  the  dominions  and  crown  colonies.^ 
An  In    the    earlier   stages    of  the    propaganda  in 

ticm  toat  England  and  Scotland  it  was  assumed  that  the 
had  no  manufacturers  of  Canada,  and  of  the  other 
dominions,  would  agree  to  a  reduction  of  the 
protection  afforded  them  in  the  tariffs  of  the 
dominions  in  order  to  secure  for  Canadian  grain 
growers  and  farmers  and  for  farmers  and  wool 
growers  in  the  other  dominions,  a  preference  in 
the  markets  of  Great  Britain.  It  was  a  mistaken 
assumption;  and  there  was  a  prompt  and  general 
shattering  of  it  in  1904,  when  Canadian  manu- 
facturers of  woolens  forced  the  Dominion  govern- 
ment to  put  the  duties  on  British  woolens  back 
nearly  to  the  level  of  1 884-1 897. 
Canada  After  the  revision   of  the  tariff  at  Ottawa  in 

J^^gj.g    the  winter  of  1 906-1 907  —  the  revision  at  which 
and  the  preferential  tariff  was  so  greatly  curtailed  — ■ 

tion?st"  ^^^  assumption  that  Canadian  manufacturers 
move-  would  agree  to  anything  less  than  an  adequate 
England  protection  against  imports  from  the  United 
of  1903-  Kingdom  had  to  be  abandoned  by  British  pro- 
tectionists of  the  Chamberlain  school. 

Canadian  manufacturers  never  disguised  their 
^  Cf.  A.  Mackintosh,  "Joseph  Chamberlain,"  264-269. 
[452] 


THE  NATIONAL  POLICY 

hostility    to    the    British   preference.     In  season    Making 
and  out  of  season  from  1897  to  the  beginning  of  ^^^^ 
the  war,  the  Canadian  Manufacturers'  Associa-   delusion 
tion  —  the     most     poHtically     powerful     protec- 
tionist  organization    in   the    British    Empire  ^  — • 
assailed  the  preference,  and  strove  to  rid  people 
of  the  United   Kingdom   of  "the  delusion   that 
access   to   the   Canadian   market   is   the   natural 
right  of  the  British  manufacturers,  regardless  of 
the  will  of  the  country."  ^ 

At  the  revision  of  1907  it  was  made  obvious   Behests 
that  the  government  at  Ottawa  must  obey  the   q^^^ 
behests  of  the  Canadian  Manufacturers'  Associa-   that 
tion;    and  after  the  whittling  down  of  the  prefer-   ^"^*e^* 
ence  in   1904   and   1907,  the  British  preferential 
tariff  ceased   to   be   a   factor  in  the   agitation  in 
Great  Britain  for  a  return  to  a  protectionist  sys- 
tem.     The  agitation  continued  until  the  eve  of 
the  war.     But  in  the  later  years  the  protectionists 
no  longer  advanced  the  claim  of  1 903-1 907  that 
a  larger  market  could  be  secured  in  Canada  for 
British   manufactures  through   a   British   protec- 
tionist tariff  in  which  there  would  be  preferences 
for  the  farm  products  and  lumber  of  the  Dominion. 

^  "The  Canadian  Manufacturers'  Association  is  like  a 
young  giant  ignorant  of  its  own  power.  By  the  exercise  of 
its  power,  it  could,  if  it  chose,  bring  several  millions  of 
people  to  the  verge  of  starvation  and  paralyze  the  industry 
of  the  whole  Dominion."  —  Speech  of  G.  M.  Murray,  secre- 
tary of  the  association,  Winnipeg,  February  9,  1910. 

*  Industrial  Canaddy  the  organ  of  the  Canadian  Manu- 
facturers' Association,  Toronto,  October,  1908. 

[453] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 


Abortive 
reciproc- 
ity 

treaty 
of  1874 


Treaty 
rejected 
by 

senate 
at 

Washing- 
ton 


American 
objec- 
tions 
to 


VI.    The  Movement  for  Reciprocity  with 
the  United  States 

One  of  the  objects  of  the  National  Policy,  to 
which  Macdonald  and  the  Conservatives  com- 
mitted the  Dominion  in  1879,  was  to  secure 
reciprocity  with  the  United  States.  There  was 
an  offer  of  reciprocity  in  the  tariff  of  1870;  and 
in  1874  the  government  at  Ottawa  made  the 
first  open  and  direct  overtures  to  Washington, 
after  Confederation,  for  another  treaty. 

Brown,  of  Ontario,  was  the  Canadian  com- 
missioner. He  was  delegated  by  the  Liberal 
government  of  1 873-1 878,  appointed  a  joint 
plenipotentiary  by  the  government  at  Whitehall, 
and  worked  in  association  with  Thornton,  the 
British  minister  at  Washington.  After  many 
conferences  between  Thornton  and  Brown,  and 
Hamilton  Fish,  secretary  of  state  in  Grant's 
second  administration,  a  draft  treaty  was  agreed 
upon.  It  was  approved  at  Whitehall.  But  the 
senate  at  Washington  refused  to  ratify  it;  and 
today  the  chief  interest  attaching  to  it  lies  in  the 
free  list.  This  shows  how  far  the  government 
at  Ottawa,  with  the  approval  of  a  Conservative 
government  at  Whitehall,  was  prepared  to  go  in 
meeting  one  of  the  objections  at  Washington  to 
the  old  reciprocity  treaty  of  1 854-1 866. 

After  the  Elgin-Marcy  treaty  had  been  in 
operation  for  four  or  five  years,  one  of  several 
objections  raised  against  it   at  Washington  was 

[454] 


THE  NATIONAL  POLICY 


that  its  spirit  had  not  been  observed  in  Canada 
—  that  the  United  Provinces  in  1858-1859  had 
adopted  protective  tariffs  with  a  view  to  the 
exclusion  of  manufactures  from  the  United  States. 

Between  1866  and  1874  it  was  reaUzed  at 
Ottawa  that  there  had  been  a  basis  for  this 
objection  at  Washington.  It  was  also  realized 
by  the  Liberal  administration  of  1 873-1 878  that 
Canada  could  not  hope  for  another  reciprocity- 
treaty  conceding  the  free  admission  of  fish,  coal, 
lumber,  and  farm  products  into  the  United  States 
unless  concessions  were  made  in  Canadian  tariffs 
for  American  manufactures. 

Canada  in  1874  was  prepared  to  make  generous 
concessions,  concessions  of  much  value  to  Ameri- 
can manufacturers;  for  if  the  treaty  had  been 
ratified  by  the  senate  at  Washington,  Canada 
would  have  admitted,  duty  free,  seventy-seven 
classes  of  American  manufactures.  Among  these 
were  agricultural  implements,  cotton  goods, 
tweeds,  and  boots  and  shoes.  It  was  the  best 
offer  ever  made  by  Canada  to  any  country, 
British  or  non-British. 

It  was  an  offer,  which,  if  it  had  been  accepted 
by  the  senate,  would  have  established  conditions 
of  trade  between  Canada  and  the  United  States 
of  much  more  value  to  the  manufacturers  of  the 
United  States  than  the  preferential  tariff  of  1897- 
1907  was  to  the  manufacturers  of  the  United 
Kingdom.  It  was  of  much  value  to  American 
trade  because  it  was  for  a  certain  definite  period, 

C455] 


reciproc- 
ity 

treaty  of 
1854- 
1866 

Canadian 
tariff 
con- 
cessions 
to 

American 
manu- 
facturers 


Generous 
con- 
cessions 
offered 
in  1874 


An  offer 
exclu- 
sively 
to  the 
United 
States 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 

and  because  the  manufactures  to  be  admitted 
duty  free  under  the  proposed  treaty  were  articles 
in  general  use  in  the  Dominion,  and  all  similar  to 
those  in  common  use  in  the  United  States.  It 
was,  moreover,  an  offer  exclusively  to  the  United 
States;  for  it  was  no  part  of  the  plan  of  the 
Mackenzie  government  that  similar  tariff  con- 
cessions should  be  made  in  favor  of  British 
manufacturers. 
Over-  At  least   seven  overtures   for  reciprocity  were 

reciproc-    "^^^^  ^Y  Canada  in  the  thirty-three  years  from 
ity  the  denunciation  of  the  Elgin-Marcy  treaty  to 

1 898-1 899,  when  a  high  joint  commission,  ap- 
pointed as  a  result  of  overtures  made  by  the 
Laurier  government  of  1 896-1 911,  failed  to  reach 
an  agreement  on  reciprocity  and  other  questions 
which  had  been  submitted  to  it.  Five  of  the 
overtures  were  made  direct  to  Washington. 
Two  of  them  —  those  of  1870  and  1879  — 
were  embodied  in  tariff  acts  of  the  Dominion 
parliament. 
AU  offers  The  offer  made  in  the  tariff  of  1879  —  an  offer 
of  less       ^j^^^  remained  on  the  statute  book  of  the  Domin- 

value 

than  ion  until  1894^  —  and   all  the  other  offers  made 

after  1879,  were  of  much  less  value  to  the  United 
States  than  the  offer  embodied  in  the  rejected 
treaty  of  1874.  It  was  well  known  at  Ottawa 
that  the  government  at  Washington  would 
entertain  no  proposals  for  reciprocity  that  did 
not  include  free  trade  in  some  manufactured 
1  Cf.  Canada  Customs  Tariff,  1894,  sections  7  to  13. 

[456] 


offer 
of  1874 


THE  NATIONAL  POLICY 

goods  as  well  as  in  coal,  lumber,  fish,  and  farm 
products.  But  it  was  not  practicable,  either 
for  the  Conservative  governments  of  1 878-1 896 
or  the  Liberal  governments  of  1896-1911,  to  renew 
the  offer  of  1874,  with  its  long  list  of  American 
manufactures  to  be  admitted  into  the  Dominion 
duty  free. 

The   Conservatives    framed    and    enacted    the   impossi- 
National  Policy  in  1879.     The  Liberals  adopted   Jj"*^ 
and  greatly  extended  it  in  1 897-1 907;    and  after   con- 
high    tariffs   and    bounties    from    the    Dominion    H^ 
treasury  had  been  established  for  the  upbuilding   as 
of  Canadian  industries,  Canadian  manufacturers   ^^°J' 
were  promptly  on  hand  at  Ottawa  to  oppose  any   as  those 
reciprocity  agreement  that  would  in  any  degree   °^  "^* 
lower    the    tariff    barriers    against    competition 
from  the  United  States. 

In  the  earlier  years  of  the  reciprocity  move-   interests 
ment — 1846   to    1879  —  the    demand    for   freer   Canada 
trade    relations    with    the    United    States    was   that 
strongest  with  the  coal  operators  of  Nova  Scotia   reciproc- 
and  British  Columbia,  and  with  the  lumbermen   ity 
and  farmers  of  Ontario,  Quebec,  and  the  Mari- 
time Provinces.     There  were  no  exports  of  grain 
from  what  are  now  the  prairie  provinces  until 
after  the    Canadian    Pacific    Railway  connected 
Winnipeg    with    Montreal    in     1883;     and    the 
organized   grain   growers   did  not  come  into  the 
reciprocity  movement  until  1905. 

The    movement    for    reciprocity    in    Canada 
easily    survived    the    rebuff    at   Washington    in 

[457] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 

Attempts  1874;    and  it  was  to  conciliate  the  interests  that 

Ottawa  were   behind   it,   and   to   attract   support  in   the 

to  electorate   for   the   National    PoHcy,    that   Mac- 

cuiate  donald  embodied  the  offer  of  reciprocity  in  fish, 

these  coal,  lumber,  and  farm  products  in  the  tariff  act 

interests      ^^   ^g^^        g^^    ^f^^^   ^^^   ^^^.j^  ^f   ^g^^    j^^j    ^^^^ 

in  operation  a  few  years,  the  coal  operators  of 
Nova  Scotia,  long  an  influential  factor  in  Domin- 
ion politics,  preferred  the  duties  in  the  tariff 
which  protected  them  against  American  competi- 
tion to  the  free  entry  of  their  coal  into  the  United 
States  that  they  had  enjoyed  under  the  reciproc- 
ity treaty  of  1854-1866.^  Moreover,  as  manu- 
facturing industries  were  developed  and  extended 
in  Canada,  it  became  increasingly  difficult  for 
governments  at  Ottawa  to  make  proposals  of 
reciprocal  trade  that  would  be  acceptable  at 
Washington. 
PoUti-  Farmers,   fishermen,  and  lumbermen  persisted 

h^or       ^^  their  demand  for  reciprocity.     These  interests 
farmers      had   to   be   humoted  at  election  times.     Pledges 
hi^mber-     ^^^  ^°  ^^  made  to  them;   and  the  last  two  over- 
men tures    from   Ottawa    to   Washington  —  those   of 
1892    and    1898  —  were    not    much    more    than 
perfunctory    fulfillments     of    pledges    given    at 
the  general  elections  of  1891  and  1896.     Neither 
the   Conservative   government   in    1892,  nor   the 
Liberal  government  in  1898,  as  the  general  elec- 
tion of  191 1  subsequently  demonstrated,  was  in 

1  Cf.  Saunders,  "Life  and  Letters  of  Sir  Charles  Tupper,'* 
11,97- 
[458] 


THE  NATIONAL  POLICY 

a  position  to  barter  an  iota  of  the  tariff  protection 
of  Canadian  manufacturers  to  secure  free  entry 
into  the  United  States  of  coal,  lumber  and  farm 
products  from  Canada. 

The  seventh   attempt  since   1866  to  secure  a   Faiiar© 
reciprocity    agreement    broke    down    during    the   °    otia- 
sessions   of   an    international   commission   which    tions 
had  convened  first  at  Quebec  and  later  on   at   igglf**" 
Washington.     The  Liberal  government,  at  whose 
instance    the    commission    had    been    appointed, 
then    proclaimed    that    henceforth    there    would 
be  no  more  pilgrimages  to  Washington,  that  the 
next  overtures  for  reciprocity  must  come  from 
the  government  of  the  United  States. 

In  the  sixty-four  years  from  the  peace  of  Ver-   Com- 
sailles  to  1847,  and  particularly  in  the  period  from   ™®"*^ 
the  treaty  of  Ghent  of  18 14,  to  1847,  the  United    cessions 
States  made  many  overtures  to  Great  Britain  —   sought 

.  .     .  from 

some  of  them  partially  successful  —  for  admission  Great 
to  the  West  India  trade,  and  to  the  trade  of  the  ®'****° 
old  British  North  American  provinces.  But  in 
the  fifty  years  from  1848  to  1898  all  overtures 
for  reciprocity  in  navigation  and  trade  were 
made,  either  by  the  British  North  American 
provinces,  or  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  or  by  the 
British  government  on  behalf  of  Canada. 

In  this  half  century — 1848-1898  —  no  over-   Washing- 
tures  were  made  from  Washington.     The  United    *°° 

o      ^  ceases 

States  ceased  to  ask  for  reciprocity  after  Great    to  ask  for 
Britain,   without   asking  from   any  country   any    *^°°" 
concessions  for  herself,  or  for  any  of  her  oversea 

[459] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 

possessions,  had  established  herself  on  a  free- 
trade  basis  in  1846,  and  in  1847  had  also  aban- 
doned her  old  navigation  code. 

After  the  navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence  was 

conceded   by  Great  Britain  in   1854,  the  United 

States  —  with  the  exception  of  the  restoration  of 

the  fishery  privileges,  enjoyed  from  1783  to  181 2, 

and  again  from  1854  to  1866,  and  of  reciprocity  in 

wrecking  on  the  Great  Lakes  —  desired  nothing 

in    trade   or  navigation   from    Great    Britain   or 

Canada. 

Reciproc-        It  followed,  therefore,  that  when  the  negotia- 

s^ei  ed      ^ioris  of  1898-1899  broke  down,  there  seemed  as 

at  little  likelihood  that  Washington  would  ever  ask 

Ottawa      £qj.  reciprocity  as  there  was  that  congress  would 

repeal  the  duties  on   all  imports  from  Canada, 

without   asking   any  tariff  concessions  from  the 

Dominion  for  the  United  States.     This  attitude 

of  Washington   admirably   suited  the  politicians 

and  manufacturers  of  the  Dominion.     It  shelved, 

and  shelved  indefinitely,  an  extremely  awkward 

issue  for  both  political  parties. 

Develop-        Reciprocity  after  1899,  so  far  as  politicians  at 

ments        Ottawa  were  concerned,   might  have  gone  into 

revived      the  limbo   of  fotgotten  questions,   but   for   two 

reciproc-     developments  that  came  in  the  years  from  1905 

Issue         to    1910.     The   organized   grain   growers   of  the 

prairie   provinces,    and   the   farmers   of  Ontario, 

put  new  life  into  the  old  movement  for  reciprocity 

when  the  tariff  commission  made  its  tour  of  the 

Dominion    in    1 905-1 906.      In    1909    President 

[460] 


THE  NATIONAL  POLICY 

Taft,  disheartened  by  popular  hostility  to  the 
Payne-Aldrich  tariff,  conceived  that  the  high 
cost  of  living  might  be  reduced  if  the  United 
States  could  draw  more  freely  on  the  products 
of  Canada. 

Reciprocity,   with   some   slight   advantages  for   American 
American    manufacturers,    was   the    easiest   wav   ^^^' 

r»  1  !•  1      •    •  •  •  tures  a 

for  a  Republican  admmistration  to  achieve  this  surprise 
end.  To  the  surprise  of  the  government  at  ^  . 
Ottawa,  and  to  the  people  of  the  Dominion,  and 
to  the  dismay  of  Canadian  manufacturers,  who 
had  concluded,  after  the  Liberal  government  in 
1897  adopted  a  protectionist  policy,  and  reaffirmed 
that  policy  in  1904,  and  again  in  1907,  that  they 
had  heard  the  last  of  any  lowering  of  the  Canadian 
tariff  wall  that  faces  the  United  States,  there 
were  overtures  from  Washington  for  reciprocity, 
to  be  based,  not  as  in  1854  on  a  treaty,  but  on 
concurrent  legislation  at  Washington  and  Ottawa. 

The  Ottawa  government  was  willing  to  nego-   Proposed 
tiate;     and    after    conferences    at    Ottawa    and    *^®®" 
Washington,  extending  from  November  4,  1910,    of  1910- 
to  January  21,  191 1,  an  agreement  was  reached.    "" 
It    was    more    inclusive    than    the    Elgin-Marcy 
treaty,  which  did  not  cover  any   manufactured 
goods.     It   was   not   nearly   as   inclusive   as   the 
rejected  treaty  of  1874;    ^^^  wood  pulp,  paper, 
brass   rods,  wire  rods,  fencing  wire,  coke,  type- 
casting   and    type-setting   machines,    and    cream 
separators   were    about    the   only    manufactured 
goods  that  Ottawa  would  agree  should  be  imported 

[461] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 


No 

depar- 
ture 
from 
policy 
Washing- 
ton 

adopted 
in  1866 


Rejection 
of 

reciproc- 
ity 
at 

general 
election 
of  1911 


duty  free  from  the  United  States.  Duties  on 
farm  equipment,  on  printers'  equipment,  and  on 
railway  and  builders'  and  plumbers'  supplies 
from  the  United  States  were,  as  a  further  con- 
cession, slightly  reduced. 

The  concessions  made  by  Ottawa  on  manu- 
factured goods  were,  however,  sufficient  to  en- 
able the  government  at  Washington  to  proclaim 
that  there  had  been  no  departure  from  the 
attitude  adopted  in  1866,  when  the  government 
took  the  position  that  no  reciprocity  agreement 
would  be  considered  which  did  not  include 
manufactured  goods  as  well  as  fish,  farm  products, 
lumber,  and  minerals. 

Legislation  was  enacted  at  Washington  to 
bring  the  agreement  into  effect.  At  Ottawa, 
when  the  reciprocity  bill  was  introduced,  it  was 
opposed  by  the  manufacturers,  the  bankers,  and 
the  railway  and  transport  interests.  The  Con- 
servatives, then  in  opposition,  took  their  cue 
from  these  interests.  They  promptly  and  com- 
pletely abandoned  their  old  arguments  in  favor 
of  reciprocity,  and  so  successfully  filibustered 
against  the  bill  in  the  house  of  commons  that  the 
Laurier  government  was  compelled  to  advise 
the  governor-general  to  dissolve  parliament. 
After  the  most  exciting  and  bitter  electoral  cam- 
paign in  the  history  of  the  Dominion,  the  Laurier 
government  and  the  reciprocity  bill  were  defeated. 

The  election  of  191 1,  which  returned  133  Con- 
servatives to  the  house  of  commons,  as  compared 

[462] 


THE  NATIONAL  POLICY 

with    86   Liberals,^    demonstrated    to   the   world    Pouticai 
what   had    been   known   at   Ottawa   since    1879.    ^"^^^ 
No  government  that  is  committed  to  the  National    Canadian 
PoHcy,    and    that    becomes    dependent    on    the   J^^g„ 
electoral,    newspaper,    and    financial    support   of 
the    manufacturers    and    the    various    interests 
allied  with  the  manufacturers,  can  enter  on  any 
agreement  for  reciprocal  trade  with   the  United 
States  if  the  agreement  involves  even  the  slightest 
scaling  down  of  the  duties  that  protect  Canadian 
manufacturers  from  competition  from  the  United 
States. 

The   Laurier  government  of  1 896-191 1    knew   Grain 
this  fact  as  well  as  any  Conservative  government   ^^'^^^^ 

from    1878   to   I916.       But  from    1905   to    I9IO  the     Dominion 

organized  grain  growers  were  increasing  rapidly   ^^^^^ 
in    numbers,    and    were    exercising    a    growing 
influence    on    politics    in    the    prairie    provinces. 

This  fact,  and  a  fact  of  much  portent  to  the  a  premier 
government,  was  brought  home  to  Laurier  and  °^*°^ 
the  Liberal  party  in  the  summer  of  1910.  Laurier, 
in  July  and  August,  made  a  political  tour  of  the 
prairie  provinces.  He  was  received  by  the  grain 
growers  in  a  critical  rather  than  an  admiring 
mood,  with  an  absence  of  reserve  towards  leaders 
in  political  life  at  Ottawa  that  was  quite  new  in 
the  history  of  the  Dominion.  Representatives 
of  the  grain  growers*  associations  at  half  a  score 
of    places    between   Winnipeg    and    Calgary   re- 

*  The  popular  vote  of  the  Conservatives  was  669,000; 
Liberals,  625,000. 

[463] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 


Repudia- 
tion of 
pledges 
recalled 


A 

Dominion 

election 

insight 


called  to  the  premier  the  pledges  that  the  Liberal 
party  had  given  to  the  Dominion  at  the  Ottawa 
convention   of  1893. 

Laurier  was  reminded  with  much  bluntness  of 
utterance  that  the  tariff  pledges  had  been  re- 
pudiated by  the  Liberal  government  in  1897 
and  1907.  He  was  told  that  the  grain  growers 
were  grieviously  disappointed  at  this  repudiation; 
and  told  with  much  emphasis  that  the  grain 
growers'  associations  were  intent  on  lower 
duties  in  the  Dominion  tariff — that  lower 
duties  were  essential  to  the  success  of  the  grain 
growing  business  in  the  prairie  provinces  —  and 
also  informed  that  the  grain  growers  were  still 
intent  on  reciprocity  with  the  United  States.^ 

The  grain  growers  were  thus  insistent  in  their 
demands  for  lower  duties  and  for  reciprocity; 
and  during  Laurier's  political  tour  in  1910  they 
made  it  plain  to  the  premier  and  to  the  Liberal 
party,  that  they  were  in  politics  to  stay.  The 
new  political  movement  in  the  prairie  provinces 
was  all  the  more  important  because  in  1910 
parliament  at  Ottawa  was  more  than  halfway 
through  its  statutory  term  of  five  years. 

The   Laurier   government   accordingly   took   a 


^  Cf.  Grain  Grower's  Guidey  July  27,  August  3,  10,  and  17, 
1910;  Globcy  Toronto,  July  23,  25,  28,  and  30,  and  August  4  and 
5;  Farmers'  Tribune^  Winnipeg,  August  3;  Weekly  Phcenix, 
Saskatoon,  August  3 ;  Standard,  Regina,  August  4;  Free  Press, 
Winnipeg,  September  7;  and  Sun,  Toronto,  August  10, 
September  28,  and  October  19,  1910. 

[464] 


THE  NATIONAL  POLICY 

chance  in  the  interest  of  a  movement  that  the   The 
Liberal  party  had  championed  for  thirty  years   ^J*™' 
before  it  went  over  to  protection  in  1 897.     With    takes  a 
the  manufacturers   and   bankers   and   the  trans-   *^^^^'^® 
port  interests  denouncing  reciprocity  —  declaring 
that   it   would   end   the   connection   with   Great 
Britain  —  the    odds    were    against    the    govern- 
ment;   and  it  encountered  defeat  in  a  cause  that 
both    Liberals    and    Conservatives   had   continu- 
ously advocated  from  1846  to  1896. 

VIL   Influence  of  the  United  States  on  the 
National  Policy 

In  no  department  of  the  political  life  of  Canada   increases 
was  American  influence  more  potent  than  in  the   1^^°" 

.  .  tective 

origin  and  development  of  the  National  Policy,    duties 
Canada   was   greatly   influenced    by  the   success   ^^ 

.         .  .       .  .  congress 

of  manufacturing  industries  in  the  United  States, 
by  the  refusal  of  the  United  States  from  1866  to 
1909  to  negotiate  another  reciprocity  treaty  on 
terms  which  Canada  could  meet,  and  by  increases 
in  the  protective  duties  of  American  tariffs  from 
1880  to  1897. 

Of  these  influences  the  rejection  by  the  senate   Rejection 
of  the  reciprocity  treaty  of  1874  was  most  power-   °' 
ful  in  the  formative  period  of  the  National  Policy,    ity 
Had   the   treaty   been    accepted    it   would    have   ^^^^ 
restored  to  the  farmers  and  lumbermen  of  eastern 
Canada   much   of  the   prosperity  of   1 854-1 866. 
With   rural  Canada  enjoying  prosperity  in   any 

[465] 


tarifiE 
of  1890 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 

degree  comparable  with  that  of  the  period  of  the 
Elgin-Marcy  treaty,  it  is  inconceivable  that 
Macdonald,  at  the  general  election  of  1878,  could 
have  persuaded  the  electorate  to  sanction  the 
National  Policy,  framed  by  a  convention  of 
manufacturers  at  Toronto  in  1876,  and  endorsed 
and  advocated  by  the  Conservatives,  then  in 
opposition  at  Ottawa,  in  the  parliamentary 
sessions  of  1876,  1877,  and  1878. 
Effect  The  critical  years  of  the  National  Policy  were 

^^^  from  the  second  revision  of  the  tariff  in  1884  to 
Kiniey  the  third  revision  in  1894.  This  was  the  decade 
of  what  is  known  in  Canadian  political  history  as 
the  disappointing  census  of  1891.  There  was  a 
general  election  in  1891,  and  it  was  a  stroke  of 
rare  good  fortune  for  the  Conservative  govern- 
ment that  the  McKinley  tariff  had  been  enacted 
at  Washington  in  1890. 

The  McKinley  tariff  affected  farmers  and 
lumbermen  in  Canada  more  adversely  than  any 
development  at  Washington  had  done  since  the 
denunciation  of  the  Elgin-Marcy  treaty  in  1865. 
It  created  an  emotional  atmosphere  all  over 
eastern  Canada  favorable  for  the  advocates  of 
the  National  Policy,  who  at  that  time,  and  until 
1897,  were  exclusively  of  the  Conservative  party. 
The  Conservative  government,  in  1891,  instead 
of  sustaining  losses,  as  is  usual  with  a  government 
that  is  becoming  stale  through  long  tenure  of 
office,  slightly  improved  its  position  in  the  house 
of  commons,  and  continued  in  office  until  1896. 

[466] 


THE    NATIONAL  POLICY 

The  Dingley  tariff  of  1897,  with  duties  much    The 
higher  than  those  of  the  McKinley  tariff,  greatly   ^^g®^ 
helped  the  Liberal  party,  after  it  had  abandoned    ofi897 
its  fiscal  policy  of  1 874-1 896,   and  made  peace   ^^ 
with  the  protectionists.     At  the  revision  of  the    protec- 
tarifF    in     1 906-1 907,    Canadian    manufacturers    Lib^J^j 
asked  for  duties  as  high  as  those  of  the  Dingley   party 
tariff. 

Fielding,  minister  of  finance,  refused  to  con- 
sider this  request.  If  it  were  complied  with  it 
would  mean  that  the  tariff  would  be  framed  not 
at  Ottawa,  but  at  Washington.  Concessions, 
however,  had  to  be  made  to  the  manufacturers, 
who  had  long  complained  of  the  high  duties  of 
the  Dingley  tariff.  Increases  were  made  in  all 
the  protective  duties;  and  at  this  revision  of 
1 906-1 907  the  Dingley  act  was  nearly  as  service- 
able to  the  Liberals  as  the  McKinley  act  had 
been  to  the  Conservatives  at  the  general  election 
of  1891. 

Manifestly   from    1858   to    1917,   the   year   in   Canadian 
which  the  Conservative  government  at  Ottawa   ^t®""®^** 
accepted  the  offer  of  reciprocity  in  wheat  and    tariff- 
flour  —  an    offer  made   in    the  Underwood-Sim-   °^*^^« 
mons  tariff  of  1913  —  the  fiscal  policy  of  Canada,    washing- 
first  the  policy  of  the  United  Provinces,  and  then   *°° 
for  forty-five  years  the  policy  of  the  Dominion, 
was  much  influenced  by  the  fiscal  policy  of  the 
United  States  from  1840  to  1913.     Tariff-making 
at   Washington,    especially   from    1880   to    1913, 
was  watched  with  keenest  interest  from  all  over 

[467.1 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 

the  Dominion;  for  Canada's  nearest  neighbor 
has  always  been  her  biggest  customer  for  a 
large  range  of  the  products  of  her  mines,  forests, 
and  farms,  and  for  an  increasing  quantity  of 
the  catch  of  the  Atlantic  coast  fisheries  of  the 
Dominion. 


[468] 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE     NATIONAL     POLICY     AND     THE 
DEVELOPMENT     OF     CANADA 


M 


trial 
centers 


eastern 
Canada 


ATERIAL  results  of  the  National  Policy  indus- 
on  the  industrial  development  of  the 
Dominion  are  visible,  even  to  a  casual  observer,  of 
from  the  window  of  a  railroad  car  on  a  journey 
through  the  central  provinces  or  the  Maritime 
Provinces.  They  can  be  seen  in  Toronto,  Hamil- 
ton, Sault  Ste.  Marie,  and  London;  Montreal, 
QueBec,  Valleyfield,  Three  Rivers,  and  St. 
Hyacinthe;  Halifax,  New  Glasgow,  and  Sydney; 
St.  John,  Fredericton,  and  Moncton.  They  are, 
in  fact,  manifest  in  every  city  and  factory  town 
of  Canada  east  of  the  Great  Lakes;  and  few  of 
these  manifestations  of  industrial  development 
and  prosperity  date  further  back  than  Confedera- 
tion. Most  of  this  industrial  activity  has  been 
developed  since  1879. 

At    Confederation    there    were    four    or    five   indus- 
cotton    mills    in    the    British    North    American    *^„ 

position 

provinces.     There  were  four  furnaces  —  all  quite    at 
small  —  where    charcoal    pig    iron    was    made.   ^°^«<*"" 
There  were   2278   miles  of  railroad,   and   not   a 
cargo  carrier  on  the  Great  Lakes  on  the  Canadian 
register  that  was  built  of  iron  or  steel. 

In   191 7  there  were  in  the  Dominion  twenty- 
nine  cotton  mills,  with  21,400  looms  and  106,800 

[469] 


ation 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 


Growth 
of  the 
cotton 
Industry 

Capacity 
of 

modem 
blast 
fur- 
naces 


RaU 
mills 


MUllngof 
flour 


spindles.  In  1867  Canada  imported  1300  bales  of 
cotton.  The  mills  of  Ontario,  Quebec,  Nova  Scotia, 
and  New  Brunswick  in  191 6  called  for  208,000  bales. 

The  output  of  iron  at  the  charcoal  furnaces  in 
New  Brunswick,  Nova  Scotia,  and  Quebec  in 
the  year  of  Confederation  did  not  exceed  5000 
tons.  In  the  jubilee  year  there  were  seven  blast 
furnaces  in  Nova  Scotia  and  eleven  in  Ontario, 
with  an  aggregate  daily  capacity  of  4600  tons. 
They  were  all  coke  furnaces,  equal  in  design  and 
equipment  to  any  of  the  furnaces  at  Pittsburgh 
or  Cleveland. 

At  Confederation,  and  in  fact  until  1904, 
Canada  imported  all  her  rails  from  Great  Britain 
or  the  United  States.  For  ten  years  before  the 
war  there  were  rail  mills  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie  and 
Sydney,  with  a  capacity  equal,  in  normal  times, 
to  the  demand  of  Canadian  railways;  and  in 
some  years,  between  1907  and  1914,  rails  from 
these  mills  were  exported. 

Commercial  milling  of  flour  was  in  its  infancy 
in  1867.  There  was  an  export  trade  in  flour, 
confined  to  Ontario.  The  flour  went  only  to 
the  Maritime  Provinces,  the  United  Kingdom, 
or  Newfoundland.  In  no  year  before  1879  — 
the  year  when  the  National  Policy  was  adopted 
—  did  the  exports  of  flour  reach  half  a  million 
barrels.  In  1914  there  were  600  flour  mills  in 
the  Dominion,  of  an  aggregate  daily  capacity  of 
112,000  barrels.  Of  these  mills  350  were  in 
Ontario  and  120  in  the  prairie  provinces. 

[470] 


NATIONAL  POLICY  AND  DEVELOPMENT 

Exports  of  flour  increased  with  the  extension  Exports 
of  grain  growing  in  Manitoba,  Saskatchewan,  °  °^ 
and  Alberta,  and  with  the  estabhshment  of  flour 
mills  at  Kenora,  Winnipeg,  Brandon,  and  other 
cities  west  of  the  Great  Lakes.  From  1902  to 
1914  there  was  a  large  development  of  the  flour 
trade  with  non-British  countries,  —  with  China, 
Denmark,  Holland,  Japan,  and  Norway,  —  and 
in  191 5  the  total  exports  of  flour  reached  nearly 
five  million  barrels.  Three  quarters  of  a  million 
barrels  went  to  non-British  countries. 

A  special  census  of  industries  taken  in  191 5  —   indus- 
U   year   in   which   war   expenditures   created    an    *^ 

.  .  .  .  census 

industrial  and  commercial  prosperity  without  of  1915 
precedent  —  brought  out  the  fact  that  there 
were  21,291  manufacturing  establishments  in 
the  Dominion.  Over  9000  were  in  Ontario. 
Over  7000  were  in  Quebec.  Nova  Scotia  had 
nearly  1000. 

The   census   further   showed   that   there  were   a  pay 
511,000  men,  women,  and   children   on  the   pay   ^°' 
rolls  of  these  establishments;   that  in  191 5  nearly   muuon 
$288,000,000  was  disbursed  in  salaries  and  wages; 
and  that  the  aggregate  value  of  the  output  was 
$1,392,516,953. 

An  era  of  railway  building  began   soon   after   Half 
Confederation;    for  it  was  a  condition  with  the   * /^^^^^^^^^ 
Maritime  Provinces  that  the  Intercolonial  Rail-   raUway 
way  should  be  constructed.     It  was  also  a  con-   ^'^^^^ 
dition   with    British    Columbia    that    it    should 
be  connected  by  railway  with  eastern  Canada. 

[471] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 

Railway  building,   in   fact,  was  continuous  after 
1873.     It  was  going  on  up  to  the  beginning  of 
the  war.     Even  the  war  did  not  put  a  stop  to  it; 
for  while  the  mileage  of  Canadian  lines  in  1914 
stood  at  30,755,  by  the  end  of  1916  it  had  been 
increased  to  37,434  miles. 
Govern-         Towards     the     cost     of    these     railways     the 
™dto         Dominion  government,  between   1867  and  1916, 
raUway       contributed  $184,719,000;   the  provincial  govern- 
ment°^     ments    contributed    $37,437,000;     and    the    mu- 
nicipalities  nearly   $17,000,000.     The    Dominion 
government  also  granted  the  railway  companies 
31,864,000  acres  of  land  in  the  prairie  provinces; 
and  the  provinces  that  retained  their  crown  lands 
at    Confederation  —  British    Columbia,    Ontario, 
Quebec,    New    Brunswick,    and    Nova    Scotia  — 
granted  13,120,000  acres  of  their  domain  to  aid 
in  the  construction  of  railways. 
Poutics  Canada   in    1916  had   a  population  of  185  for 

raiiwa  ^^^^  "^^^^  ^^  railway,  as  compared  with  400  in 
buUding  the  United  States.  Politics,  rather  than  trans- 
port needs,^  accounted  for  much  of  the  railway 
building  between  1904  and  the  beginning  of  the 
war,  building  largely  due  to  the  railway  policy 
of  the  Liberal  government  of  1 896-1 911. 
Trans-  Two     new    transcontinental   lines   were    built 

*^°'^tsd        between     1905     and     1914.     There     was     much 
raUways     double-tracking  of  the  Canadian  Pacific,  west  of 
Fort  William,  to  facilitate  the  movement  of  grain 

1  Cf.  A.  W.  Smithers,  chairman  of  Grand  Trunk  Railway 
Company.     "The  Answer,"  2. 

[472] 


I-H       O 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 

to  the  head  of  the  lakes.     There  was  in  these 
years   also  much   double-tracking  of  the  Grand 
Trunk,  the  pioneer  line  of  eastern  Canada,  which 
handles  much  of  the  western  grain  en  route  from 
transfer  ports  in  Ontario  to  tidewater  at  Mont- 
real and  Portland,  and  also  serves  many  of  the 
industrial  cities  and  towns  of  the  central  provinces. 
New  lines  were  also  built  that  were  not  of  any 
of  the  three  transcontinental  systems. 
RaUway         The  most  important  of  these  new  lines  was 
Nelson,      ^^^  government-owned  railway  from  Le  Pas,  on 
Hudson     the  Great  Saskatchewan   river,  in  the   province 
^^  of  Manitoba,  to  Port  Nelson,  on  Hudson  Bay. 

The  Laurier  government  of  1 896-191 1,  in  direct 
response  to  an  agitation  by  the  organized  grain 
growers  of  Manitoba,  Saskatchewan  and  Alberta, 
committeed  the  Dominion  to  this  undertaking, 
which,  with  the  wharves  and  elevator  at  Port 
Nelson,  entailed  a  charge  of  $26,cxDO,ooo  on  the 
Dominion  treasury. 

Key  to  Map  on  Page  475 


I. 

Lachine  canal 

10. 

Scugog    branch  of   Trent 

2. 

Soulanges  canal 

canal 

3. 

Beauharnais  canal 

II. 

Welland  canal 

4- 

Cornwall  canal 

12. 

Grand  River  feeder 

5- 

Rapide  Plat  canal 

13. 

Ottawa-Georgia  Bay  canal 

6. 

Galops  canal 

(projected) 

7- 

Rideau  canal 

14. 

Murray  canal 

8. 

Perth  branch  of  Rideau 

IS- 

Carillon  canal 

canal 

16. 

Greenville  canal 

9. 

Trent  canal 

[474] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 

A  new  The  line  is  420  miles   long.      It  was    pushed 

°"^®*^°'"  through  a  wild  and  altogether  unsettled  country, 
grain  solely  to  provide  an  additional  route  to  Great 
Britain  for  grain  from  the  prairie  provinces,  and 
thereby  relieve  the  pressure  in  the  months  of  Sep- 
tember, October,  and  November  each  year  on  the 
three  transcontinental  railways  that  connect  the 
grain  growing  provinces  with  the  numerous  trans- 
fer elevators  at  Fort  William  and  Port  Arthur.^ 
Over  The  net  result  of  this  almost  feverish  activity 

building      j^  railway  building  from   1904  was  that  10,000 
railways      miles  Were  added  to  the  railway  mileage;   and  in 
1916  the  Dominion  woke  up  to  the  fact  that,  as 
regards  railways,  it  was  seriously  overbuilt.^ 
Water  From  1884  to  1 91 6,  and  particularly  from  1900 

to  1914,  when  the  grain  trade  of  the  west  was 
increasing  with  great  rapidity,  the  development 
of  water  transport  and  the  building  of  grain 
carriers  for  service  on  the  national  grain  route 
from  Port  Arthur  and  Fort  William  to  Montreal 
nearly  kept  pace  with  the  building  of  railways. 

A  magnificent  lock  was  built  at  Sault  Ste. 
Marie.  The  Welland  and  St.  Lawrence  canals  — 
seventy-four     miles     long  —  were     deepened     to 

^  Cf.  Report  of  Proceedings  at  Farmers'  Delegation  to 
Members  of  the  Government,  December  16,  1910,  Ottawa, 
191 1,  29-31;  "The  Hudson  Bay  Railroad,"  ^eeris  Quarterly, 
Kingston,  July,  August,  September,  1916,  38-45;  H.  of  C. 
Debates,  May  3,  1916,  and  June  11,  1917. 

2  Cf.  Report  of  Royal  Commission  on  Railways,  1915- 
1916;  "Canada's  Future:  A  Symposium  of  Official  Opinion," 
1916,  113. 

[476] 


trans- 
port 


NATIONAL  POLICY  AND  DEVELOPMENT 

fourteen  feet.     Canal  tolls  were  abolished.     The    Canals 
St.    Lawrence   ship   channel,   which   extends   for   °^*^® 

.  grain 

seventy  miles   below  Montreal,  was  widened  to    route 
450  feet,  and  dredged  to  a  depth  of  thirty  feet  at 
low  water.     Great  improvements  were  also  made 
at  all  the  lake  and  tidewater  ports  on  the  grain 
route. 

A  large  fleet  of  lake  carriers  —  some  for  service  ship- 
on  the  upper  lakes  and  some,  of  lesser  tonnage,  ^"^^^s 
for  both  lake  and  canal  service  —  went  on  the 
Canadian  register  in  the  years  from  1900  to  19 14. 
Steel  shipbuilding  yards  were  established  at  Port 
Arthur,  Collingwood,  Toronto,  Kingston,  Mont- 
real, Levis,  Sorel,  and  New  Glasgow;  and  at  all 
these  ports  except  New  Glasgow  dry  docks  were 
built  as  part  of  the  equipment  of  the  grain  route. 

Liberal  subsidies  were  granted  to  these  docks    Govem- 
by  the  Dominion  government.     By  this  aid,  and    °^®^* 
also  by  a  tariff  duty  of  twenty-five  per  cent  on    ship- 
the  cost  of  repairs,  made  to  Canadian  vessels  in    ^^<i^ 
American    shipyards,    the   government   extended 
the   National    Policy   to    the    steel    shipbuilding 
industry. 

These  are  some  of  the  more  visible  evidences  of  National 
the  success  of  the  National  Policy.     It  has  not   ^^^^^ 
achieved   all   that  was   expected   of  it   in    1879,    increase 
especially  as  regards  increase  of  population.     The   ^ 

,  ....  popu- 

expectation    was    that    protection    to    industries   lation 
would  stop  the  exodus  to  the  United  States  from 
central  Canada  and  the  Maritime  Provinces,  and 
also  attract  a  large  immigration  from  overseas. 

C477] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 

A  dis-  Immigration  did  not  increase  nearly  so  quickly 

appoint-     2LS   was    cxpcctcd,    nor   was   the   exodus   to   the 

census       United  States  stopped.     The  official  records  for 

1881-1891  showed  that  886,000  immigrants  came 

to   Canada.     It   was   confidently   expected    that 

the  census  of  1891  would  show  a  population  of 

more   than   five   millions.     It   gave   4,833,000  — 

only  508,000  more  than  the  population  in  1881. 

The   increase  was   disappointing  to  ministers  at 

Ottawa  who  were  responsible  for  the  National 

Policy.     It    was    equally    so    for    the    protected 

manufacturers,  who  feared  that  the  Conservative 

government  might  lose  confidence  in  the  National 

Policy. 

Period  The    stream   of  immigration    continued    small 

^g         until  the  end   of  the  next  decade — 1891-1901. 

immi-        Then  it  came  in  a  flood.     Immigrants  poured  in 

gration       fj-om  Great  Britain,  from  the  United  States,  and 

from  nearly  every  country  of  continental  Europe. 

The   immigration   was   so   cosmopolitan   that   in 

1 91 7  forty-eight  translations  of  the   Bible  were 

on  sale  in  Winnipeg. 

Three  million  immigrants  arrived  in  the  years 
from  1900  to  191 5  —  only  half  a  million  less  than 
the  total  population  of  the  Dominion  at  Con- 
federation. About  half  these  newcomers  arrived 
in  the  decade  from  1901  to  191 1;  yet  despite 
this  large  inflow  the  census  of  191 1  showed  an 
increase  of  only  1,835,000  over  the  returns  of 
1901. 
The  Dominion  government  began  its  propa- 

C478] 


NATIONAL  POLICY  AND  DEVELOPMENT 

ganda  in  1878.     In  that  year  $36,000  was  spent   immi- 
on    it.     In    every    subsequent    year    there    were   ^^^°^ 
larger  expenditures,  until  in  1914-1915  the  outlay   ganda 
reached    $1,859,000.     Between    1878    and    191 1,    ^e^^*- 
the  year  of  the  last  census,  the  total  expenditure 
on  immigration  was  $16,146,000. 

Provincial    governments    in    these    years    also   slow 
spent   much    money   in    advertising   the   special   ^^^^^ 
attractions  of  their  provinces.     From   1883   the   popu- 
Dominion   government  had   tens  of  millions  of  ^***°" 
acres   of  accessible  land   in  what   are  now  the 
prairie  provinces,  on  which  free  homesteads  for 
immigrants   were    available.     Despite    an   immi- 
gration propaganda  on  a  scale  without  precedent 
in  any  English-speaking  country,  free  homesteads 
of  160  acres  each  for  settlers,  thirty-two  years  of 
protection  for  all  manufacturing  industries,  and 
twenty-eight  years  of  bounties  for  the  iron  and 
steel   industry,    and    also   much   valuable   direct 
and   indirect   aid   to   industries   by  hundreds   of 
municipalities    in    eastern    Canada,    population 
from  1871  to  the  census  of  191 1  was  not  quite 
doubled. 

One  obvious  result  of  the  National  Policy  was   Effect  of 
the  building  up  of  the  cities  of  central  Canada   n**^°^^ 

*       ^  .  Policy 

at  the  expense  of  the  rural  areas  and  of  agriculture   on  rural 
in  Ontario.     The  census  of  191 1  showed  a  decrease   f°P""  • 

lation 

in  population  in  forty-four  out  of  the  forty-five 
rural  electoral  ridings.  This  decline  in  the 
rural  and  farming  population  had  gone  on, 
moreover,   notwithstanding   that   in   the   decade 

[479] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 

covered  by  the  census,  400,000  of  the  immigrants 
arriving  at  Canadian  ports  had  given  Ontario  as 
their  destination.  While  this  decrease  in  rural 
population  was  going  on,  the  population  of 
Toronto  increased  from  208,000  to  376,000;  that 
of  Hamilton  from  52,000  to  82,000;  and  that  of 
London  from  38,000  to  46,000. 
Farm  The  National  Policy  made  Canada  a  less  de- 

iaiK>r         sirable  place  for  farmers  —  especially  for  farmers 
farm  in  an  industrial  province  like  Ontario  —  because 

equip-  j^  increased  the  cost  of  farm  equipment,  clothing, 
and  many  domestic  supplies,^  and  also  stripped 
rural  Canada  of  farm  laborers.  It  is  these  con- 
ditions that  explain  the  agrarian  movements 
in  Canadian  politics  since  Confederation  —  the 
agitation  of  the  Patrons  of  Industry  of  1890- 
1896,  and  the  more  recent  and  much  more  widely 
extended  movement  of  the  grain  growers'  associa- 
tions of  the  western  provinces  and  of  the  United 
Farmers  of  Ontario. 
Agrarian  Canada  has  had  singularly  few  independent 
political  movements  in  politics.  The  rigidity  of  the 
ments  two-party  system,  and  the  remarkable  hold  that 
it  has  had  on  the  people  since  1867,  are  against 
any  independent  movement  in  Dominion  politics. 
So  is  the  extent  to  which  the  daily  and  weekly 
newspapers  of  the  Dominion  are  tightly  bound 
either  to  the  Conservative  or  the  Liberal  party; 
and  the  system  of  political  patronage  as  it  exists 

1  "The  Farmers'  Platform,"  17-19;  "Homesteaders'  Tariff 
Burdens,"  Grain  Growers'  Guide,  October  5,  1910. 

[480] 


NATIONAL  POLICY  AND  DEVELOPMENT 

at  Ottawa  and  at  the  provincial  capitals,  the 
scattering  of  seven  and  a  half  million  people  over 
half  a  continent,  and  the  stringing  out  of  settle- 
ment and  population  along  a  line  4000  miles  in 
length,  also  make  the  organization  of  an  inde- 
pendent movement  in  Dominion  politics  exceed- 
ingly difficult. 

There  are  Labor  and  Socialist  movements  in 
some  of  the  cities.  Occasionally  in  the  years 
from  1900  to  191 7  a  Labor  or  a  Socialist  candi- 
date was  elected  to  a  provincial  legislature.  But 
in  the  first  half-century  of  Confederation  only 
farmers  and  grain  growers,  when  independently 
organized,  and  acting  apart  from  the  Conserv- 
ative and  Liberal  parties,  were  able  to  influence 
policies  of  the  government  at  Ottawa  or  the 
policies  of  the  provincial  governments  of  Ontario, 
Manitoba,  Saskatchewan,  and  Alberta.  Both 
these  agrarian  movements  —  the  Patrons  of  In- 
dustry and  the  grain  growers'  organizations  — 
had  their  origin  in  economic  conditions  developing 
out  of  the  National  Policy. 

At  Confederation,  and  for  ten  or  fifteen  years    The 
after   1867,   Canada  was  the  least  expensive  of   p^y°^ 
English-speaking  countries  to  live  in.     More  was   and  the 
possible  in  one  of  the  smaller  cities  of  Ontario  —   n^!!' 
a    city    of   good    amenities  ---  on    an    income    of 
twelve   or  fifteen   hundred   dollars   than   in   any 
other  English-speaking  community  in   any  part 
of  the  world.     There  was  a  time  when  English 
military  officers  and  civil  servants  on  pension, 

C481] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 

and    other    annuitants,    emigrated    to    Ontario, 
because  of  the  beauty  and  amenities  of  its  smaller 
cities  and  its  towns  and  villages,  and  because  in 
these  places  a  little  money  went  a  long  way. 
Its  levy  Immigration  from  Great  Britain  to  Canada  in 

°^  those  years  was  to  Ontario.     In  the  immigration 

farmers  -^  .  .  ° 

and  propaganda  emphasis  was  laid   on  the  low  cost 

rr.^Ar»  of  living.  The  National  Policy  gradually  changed 
this  condition.  The  cost  of  living  constantly 
moved  upward  in  the  twenty-five  years  before 
the  war;  and  on  the  eve  of  the  war  there  was  no 
country  in  the  English  speaking-world  where  the 
cost  of  living  was  higher,  or  where  a  protective 
tariff  was  costing  farmers  and  grain  growers  and 
salary  and  wage  earners  a  larger  proportion  of 
their  income. 


earners 


C482] 


CHAPTER  XVII 

PROVINCIAL     LEGISLATURES 
AND     GOVERNMENTS 

IN  the  preceding  chapters  most  attention  has  a  survey 
been  devoted  (i)  to  the  evolution  of  the 
Dominion  of  Canada;  (2)  to  the  evolution  and 
working  of  the  political  institutions  of  which 
Ottawa  is  the  center;  and  (3)  to  the  economic 
and  fiscal  policies,  first  of  the  old  British  North 
American  provinces,  and  afterwards  of  the 
Dominion.  It  is  the  Dominion  of  Canada  —  its 
central  government  and  its  politics  —  that  most 
interests  the  United  States  and  the  other  English- 
speaking  countries,  and  also  the  world  at  large. 

The  legislatures  and  governments  at  the  Provin- 
provincial  capitals  have,  accordingly,  been  left 
for  the  concluding  chapter.  The  powers,  duties, 
and  functions,  so  definitely  assigned  by  the  British 
North  America  act  to  the  provinces,  have  already 
been  detailed.  They  are  so  clearly  defined  in  the 
act,  which  also  decrees  that  all  classes  of  subjects 
not  specifically  assigned  to  the  provinces  fall 
automatically  to  the  Dominion,  that  there  can 
never  be  much  conflict  or  friction  between  the 
Ottawa  government  and  the  governments  at  the 
provincial  capitals. 

An  account  has  also  been  given  of  the  method 
of  appointing  lieutenant-governors,   and   of  the 

[483] 


cial 
capitals 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 

Fran-        franchises  on  which  the  nine  provincial  legislatures 
chises        3j.g  elected.     The  economic  interests  of  the  nine 
economic    provinces,  and  the  racial  and  religious  interests 
interests     peculiar   to   Quebec,   have   also   been   described; 
and  there  has  also  been  made  clear  the  connection 
between  political  leaders  at  Ottawa  and  political 
leaders  at  the  provincial  capitals,  particularly  at 
crises  at  Ottawa,  when  Dominion  administrations 
are  in  process  of  formation. 
Bi-  Furthermore,  in  the  history  of  Confederation, 

camerai  j^  }^^5  ^jgQ  been  told  how  it  comes  about  that 
latures  today  only  two  of  the  nine  provincial  legislatures 
—  Quebec  and  Nova  Scotia  —  are  bicameral. 
The  provincial  legislatures  existing  in  1867  were 
given  power  to  amend  the  constitutions  of  the 
provinces,  except  as  regards  the  office  of  lieu- 
tenant-governor. 
Single-  Ontario,  in  1867,  when  the  union  with  Quebec 

S^^**^  of  1840  came  to  an  end,  abandoned  the  bicameral 
latiires  system.  British  Columbia  organized  its  legisla- 
ture on  the  single-chamber  plan  before  it  came 
into  Confederation  in  1871.  Prince  Edward 
Island  made  a  similar  reform  before  it  became  a 
province  of  the  Dominion  in  1873. 
Bi-  Manitoba,    the    first    province    created     and 

camerai      provided  with   a  constitution   by  parliament   at 

system         ^  ... 

discarded  Ottawa,  was  organized  in  1870,  with  two  cham- 
bers. The  legislative  council  at  Winnipeg,  which 
opened  its  first  session  with  only  seven  members, 
disappeared  at  the  end  of  the  session  of  1876. 
The    second    chamber    of   the    New    Brunswick 

[484] 


PROVINCIAL  LEGISLATURES 

legislature    survived    until    as    long    after    Con- 
federation as  1892. 

In  1905,  when  parliament  created  the  provinces 
of  Saskatchewan  and  Alberta,  and  provided 
them  with  constitutions,  the  single-chamber  plan 
for  provincial  legislatures  was  so  well  established, 
was  working  so  satisfactorily,  and  the  principle 
was  so  generally  accepted,  that  it  was  enacted  in 
the  organic  law  that  the  legislatures  should  have 
only  one  chamber,  to  be  known  as  the  legislative 
assembly. 

No  claim  is  ever  made  that  the  legislatures  of  Legis- 
Quebec  and  Nova  Scotia,  with  their  elected  J^^^g 
legislative  assemblies,  and  legislative  councils 
appointed  nominally  by  the  lieutenant-governor 
acting  for  the  crown,  but  in  practice  by  the  pre- 
mier of  the  province,  are  one  whit  superior  to 
the  legislatures  of  the  provinces  in  which  there 
are  only  legislative  assemblies. 

Legislative  councils,  in  the  provinces  in  which 
they  still  survive,  have  even  fewer  friends  in  the 
constituencies  and  in  the  press  than  the  senate  at 
Ottawa;  for  while  there  are  ninety-six  members 
of  the  senate,  there  are  only  twenty-four  legisla- 
tive councilors  at  Quebec  and  twenty-one  at 
Halifax. 

The  legislative  councils  are  of  some  slight  value   Their 
to   the   political   party   in    power.     They   add   a 
little   to   the   patronage   of  the   premiers.     But, 
even   if  the    provincial   governments   of  Quebec 
and   Nova   Scotia  were   disposed   to   follow  the 

[485] 


value  In 
politics 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 


Obstacle 

to 

abolition 

of 

councils 


Member- 
ship of 
legls- 
latxires 


example  of  the  five  provinces  that  since  1867 
have  discarded  legislative  councils,  there  are 
difficulties  that  are  not  easy  to  surmount. 

Legislative  councilors,  like  senators  at  Ottawa, 
hold  office  for  practically  as  long  as  they  have 
the  strength  to  carry  themselves  to  the  legislative 
chambers.  In  Quebec  a  councilor  is  paid  a 
salary  of  ^1500.  At  Halifax  the  salary  is  $700. 
These  salaries  have  come  to  be  regarded  as 
pensions;  and  at  Halifax  when  attempts  were 
made  to  abolish  the  second  chamber,  it  was 
found  that  men  appointed  to  the  council,  under  a 
pledge  to  vote  for  its  abolition,  developed  con- 
scientious scruples  against  implementing  the 
pledge  "as  it  is  unconstitutional  to  pledge  oneself 
in  advance  to  vote  in  any  particular  way."  ^  If 
salaries  ceased  to  be  paid  at  Quebec  and  Halifax, 
the  legislative  councils  there  would  fall  of  their 
own  weight.  The  outside  props  are  few,  and 
they  are  admittedly  weak  and  rickety. 

Membership  of  the  legislatures  in  the  seven 
provinces  in  which  there  are  no  upper  chambers 
varies  from  thirty  in  Prince  Edward  Island  to 
106  in  Ontario.  There  are  eighty-one  members 
of  the  legislative  assembly  of  Quebec.  The  odd 
member  is  from  the  Magdalen  Islands,  which 
have  been  represented  in  the  assembly  since 
1897.2 


1  Riddell,  "Constitution  of  Canada,"  footnote,  xxi,  82. 
*  In  the  winter  before  the  war  —  the  winter  of  1913-1914, 
■no  fewer  than  819  men  were  engaged  in  the  legislative  work 

[486] 


PROVINCIAL  LEGISLATURES 


Salaries  of  members  of  legislatures  range  from 
$200,  with  an  additional  allowance  of  ^400  for 
the  speaker,  in  Prince  Edward  Island,  to  ^1500, 
with  a  salary  of  ^4000  for  the  speaker,  in  Quebec. 
The  term  of  a  legislature,  like  the  term  of  parlia- 
ment at  Ottawa,  is  not  definitely  fixed.  It  may 
not  extend  beyond  four  years. 

In  its  organization  a  government  at  a  pro- 
vincial capital  is  as  nearly  as  possible  a  replica 
of  the  government  at  Ottawa,  with  a  lieutenant- 
governor,  domiciled  at  government  house,  in 
place  of  the  governor-general;  and  with  a 
secretary  of  state  —  or  provincial  secretary  — 
through  whom  communication  is  maintained 
with  the  central  government  acting  through  the 
department  of  state  at  Ottawa. 

With  the  colonial  oflice  in  London,  provincial 
governments,  on  the  comparatively  few  occasions 
on  which  they  come  into  touch  with  Whitehall, 
communicate  through  the  department  of  state 
and  the  government  at  Ottawa. 

Responsible  government  has  been  established 
at  all  the  provincial  capitals  since  1870,  when 
British  Columbia  attained  the  power,  rank,  and 


Salaries 
of  mem- 
bers of 
legis- 
latures 


Organi- 
zation  of 
provin- 
cial 

govern- 
ment 


Colonial 
office 
and 
provin- 
cial 

govern- 
ments 

Party 
lines 


of  the  Dominion  and  the  provinces.  At  Ottawa  there  were 
308  so  employed  —  senators,  87;  members  of  the  house  of 
commons,  221.  At  Quebec  the  number  of  members  of  the 
assembly  and  of  the  council  was  105;  at  Toronto,  106;  at 
Halifax,  59;  at  Fredericton,  46;  at  Charlottetown,  30; 
at  Winnipeg,  41;  at  Regina,  41;  at  Edmonton,  41;  and 
at  Victoria,  42. 

[487] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 

dignity  that  the  other  British  North  American 
provinces  had  enjoyed  for  twenty  years  before 
Confederation.  Party  Hnes  in  the  provincial 
legislatures  are  the  same  as  in  Dominion  politics 

—  Liberal  and  Conservative.  In  some  of  the 
legislatures  there  are  usually  two  or  three  Labor 
or  Socialist  members,  acting  apart  from  the  older 
parties,  and  not  accepting  instructions  from  either 
the  government  or  the  opposition  whips. 

Legifr-  At  each  of  the  provincial  capitals  the  relations 

Jj^'        between  the  legislature  and  the  ministry  —  often 
cabinet      called,  as  at  Ottawa,  the  cabinet  or  the  council 

—  are  the  same  as  at  Ottawa;  and  the  procedure 
of  the  cabinet,  in  its  day  by  day  business,  and  in 
the  event  of  a  ministerial  crisis,  is  the  same  as 
at  the  Dominion  capital. 

Con-  A  provincial  ministry  remains  in   power  only 

ditions       so  long  as  it  can  command   a  majority  in  the 
which        legislative  assembly.     If  defeated   on  a  vote   in 
cabinet      ^^g  assembly,  it  must  either  ask  the  lieutenant- 
power        governor  to  dissolve  the  legislature,  or  the  premier 
must   tender  his   resignation   to   the   lieutenant- 
governor,   in  which   case  the  tenure  of  office  of 
all  his  colleagues  of  the  ministry,  in  accordance 
with    the    constitutional    practice    at    Ottawa, 
comes  to  an  end. 
Disso-  In  the  event  of  a  premier  resigning  without 

ieS^°'     asking   for   a   dissolution   of  the  legislature,   the 
lature        procedure   of  the   lieutenant-governor  is  similar 
to   that   of  the   governor-general    under   similar 
circumstances.     He  sends  for  the  leader  of  the 

[488] 


PROVINCIAL  LEGISLATURES 

opposition  and  calls  upon  him  to  form  an  ad- 
ministration. After  the  leader  of  the  opposi- 
tion has  succeeded  in  this  undertaking  —  after 
he  himself  has  become  premier,  and  has  formed 
his  ministry  —  it  is  open  to  him  to  ask  the 
lieutenant-governor  for  an  immediate  dissolution, 
if  he  is  convinced  that  his  following  in  the  legis- 
lative assembly  is  not  sufficiently  numerous  and 
cohesive  to  enable  him  to  carry  on  the  king's 
business. 

The  ministry  of  Ontario,  as  it  existed  in  191 7,  Ministry 
is  not  quite  typical  of  provincial  ministries.  The  Qj^^f^^ 
political  civilization  of  Ontario  is  more  advanced, 
and  more  comprehensive,  than  that  of  some  of 
the  other  provinces.  There  is  a  larger  population, 
and  more  cities  and  urban  Hfe,  than  in  any  of 
the  other  provinces;  and  Ontario  stands  towards 
the  other  provinces  in  somewhat  the  same  rela- 
tion as  Massachusetts  stands  towards  the  other 
states  of  New  England. 

The  offices  constituting  the  ministry  at  Toronto   A 
are,    however,    sufficiently    typical    to    illustrate   ^^'^ 
the    composition    of    a    provincial    government,    vinciai 
They  are:  °^*^ 

(i)    Prime  Minister,  and 

(2)  President    of    the    Council  —  two    offices 
usually  held,  as  at  Ottawa,  by  the  same  man. 

(3)  Attorney-General. 

(4)  Provincial  Secretary. 

(5)  Provincial  Treasurer  or  Minister  of  Finance. 

(6)  Minister  of  Agriculture. 

C  489  ] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 


Members 

without 

portfolio 


Salaries 

of 

premiers 

and 

ministers 


Franking 
letters 


(7)  Minister  of  Education. 

(8)  Minister  of  Public  Works. 

(9)  Minister  of  Lands,  Forests,  and  Mines. 

The  long-standing  usage  at  Ottawa  of  appoint- 
ing men  to  the  cabinet  without  portfolios  —  with 
the  inherent  advantages  and  disadvantages  — 
has  been  established  at  Toronto  and  other  of 
the  provincial  capitals.  In  the  Whitney  ad- 
ministration —  a  Conservative  administration  — 
at  Toronto,  as  it  stood  in  February,  191 2,  there 
were  no  fewer  than  three  members  without 
portfolios.  Every  member  of  a  provincial  cabi- 
net, with  or  without  portfolio,  must,  of  course, 
be  a  member  of  the  legislature. 

Salaries  of  provincial  premiers  range  from 
$2700  in  Prince  Edward  Island,  where  the  premier 
usually  holds  also  the  office  of  attorney-general,^ 
to  ^9000  in  Ontario,  where  the  premier  is  also 
president  of  the  council.  Salaries  of  other 
ministers  range  from  $1500  in  Prince  Edward 
Island  to  $6000  in  Ontario  and  Quebec.  These 
salaries  are  in  addition  to  salaries  or  indemnities 
—  to  use  the  Canadian  parliamentary  and  legal 
term  —  received  as  members  of  the  legislature. 

Members  of  legislatures,  unlike  members  of 
parliament,  do  not  have  the  privilege  of  franking 
letters  to  be  carried  through  the  mails.  But  near 
the  table  of  the  clerk,  on  the  floor  of  the  legisla- 
tive  chamber,   is   a   basket  into  which  members 

*  Premier,  $1000;  attorney-general,  $1700. 
[490] 


PROVINCIAL  LEGISLATURES 

throw  letters  written  on  public  business,  and 
these  letters  are  stamped  at  the  expense  of  the 
province. 

Salaries  of  lieutenant-governors,  paid  by  the  Lieu- 
Dominion  government,  range  from  ^7000  in  go^^oj 
Prince  Edward  Island,  to  $10,000  in  Quebec 
and  Ontario.  The  upkeep  of  government  house, 
the  official  home  of  the  lieutenant-governor,  is 
defrayed  by  the  province.  There  is  no  fixed 
term  for  the  lieutenant-governor.  He  holds 
office  "during  pleasure";  but  he  cannot  be 
removed  within  five  years  of  his  appointment, 
except  for  cause  assigned.  This  provision  pre- 
vents vacation  of  the  office  merely  in  order  to 
add  to  the  patronage  of  a  new  government  at 
Ottawa. 

Like  the  governor-general  at  Ottawa,   a  lieu-   An  even 
tenant-governor  at  a  provincial  capital  must  ride   ^^^ 
on  an  even  keel  as  regards  political  parties  and    poutics 
all  political  agitations.     In  nearly  every  instance 
the  appointment  of  lieutenant-governor  is  made 
as  an  acknowledgment  of  partisan  service  ren- 
dered to  the  political  party  in  power  at  Ottawa. 

Once  inside  government  house,  however,  all 
party  activities  must  cease.  The  office  is  rarely 
held  by  a  man  who  has  been  in  the  front  rank  in 
parliamentary  or  administrative  life  at  Ottawa. 
Men  who  attain  this  rank,  and  who  can  hold  on 
to  their  seats  in  the  house  of  commons,  stay  at 
Ottawa  to  the  end  of  the  chapter.  A  lieutenant- 
governorship  is  usually  bestowed  on  a  man  of 

C491] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 

the  "old  party  war  horse''  variety  of  poHticians 
—  on  a  man  who  needs  an  income,  and  realizes 
that  he  has  reached  an  age  at  which  he  can  do 
little  more  continuous  hard  work.^ 
Link  As  the  governor-general  is  the  most  apparent 

***o^nce     ^^^^  connecting  the  Dominion  with  Great  Britain, 
and  so  the  Heutenant-govemor  is  the  most  apparent 

Dominion  jj^^j^  connecting  a  province  with  the  Dominion. 
In  all  the  ceremonies  of  state,  at  a  provincial 
capital,  the  lieutenant-governor  takes  much  the 
same  part  as  the  governor-general  in  state  cere- 
monies at  Ottawa.  He  formally  opens  and 
closes  the  sessions  of  the  legislature,  with  a 
speech  from  the  throne,  which  as  regards  arrange- 
ment and  phrasing  is  closely  patterned  after  the 
speech  from  the  throne  at  Ottawa. 
Organi-  A  provincial  legislature  is  organized  for  business 
zationof  -j^  exactly  the  same  way  as  parliament.  At  the 
lature  Opening  of  a  new  session  there  is  the  debate 
on  the  address  in  reply  to  the  speech  from  the 
throne.  Committees  are  organized  as  at  Ottawa. 
Bills  are  read  a  first  and  second  time,  considered 
in  committee,  reported  back  to  the  assembly, 
read  a  third  time,  and  then  receive  the  royal 
assent. 

*  "The  lieutentant-governorship  is  an  office  where  the 
average  occupant  may  be  much  seen  and  little  heard.  The 
office,  apart  from  its  social  side,  is,  in  fact,  designed  to  take 
up  so  little  of  a  man's  real  time,  that  the  suggestion  has  been 
made  to  combine  it  with  that  of  the  chief-justiceship  in  the 
respective  provinces."  —  Tribune,  Winnipeg,  November  6, 
1917. 

[492] 


lative 
measures 


,  PROVINCIAL  LEGISLATURES 

Measures  before  the  assembly  are  classified  as    ciassi- 
at  Ottawa  or  at  Westminster  into  (i)  government   ^^^^°°^ 
bills,  (2)  private  members'  bills,  and  (3)  private-   legis- 
bill  legislation.     Members  have  the  same  oppor- 
tunities as  in  the  parliament  of  the  Dominion  of 
introducing     bills     and     motions,     and     seeking 
information   from   the  government   by  questions 
addressed  in  the  assembly  to  ministers. 

Procedure  on  the  budget  and  on  the  estimates   Budget 
is  similar.     The  budget  system,  with  ministerial    ^^ 
responsibility  for  every  item  of  expenditure  and    mates 
for  every  tax  imposed,  is  as  well  established,  and 
as  closely  adhered  to,  at  the  provincial  capitals 
as  at  Ottawa.     The  event  of  a  legislative  session 
at  a  provincial  capital,  in  normal  years,  is  the 
exposition  of  the  budget  by  the  provincial  treas- 
urer,  its   discussion    in   the    assembly,    and    the 
passing  of  any  bill  that  may  be  necessary  for 
raising    additional    taxation,    or    reducing    taxes 
previously  sanctioned  by  the  legislature. 

In  the  provinces  which  possess  crown  lands  —  Sources 
British  Columbia,  Ontario,  Quebec,  New  Bruns-  °f 
wick,  and  Nova  Scotia  —  the  treasury  is  re- 
plenished from  three  sources.  These  are  (i)  two 
annual  subventions  —  one  a  fixed  sum  determined 
when  the  province  came  into  Confederation,  and 
the  other  a  grant  based  on  the  population  of  the 
province  as  ascertained  at  the  last  decennial 
census,  both  paid  out  of  the  Dominion  treasury; 
(2)  direct  taxation,  such  as  license  fees,  income 
tax,  and  succession  duties,  levied  and  collected 

[493] 


revenue 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 


Direct 
taxation 


Loans 

and 

subsidies 


Province 
of 

legis- 
latures 


Checks 
on 

legis- 
latures 


by  virtue  of  enactments  of  the  legislature;  and 
(3)  money  accruing  from  the  sale  or  renting  of 
crown  lands,  from  stumpage  dues  collected  in 
respect  of  logs  cut  on  crown  lands,  and  from 
royalties  on  coal  and  other  minerals;  for  all 
minerals  in  Canada  are  crown  property.^ 

All  the  legislatures  have  power  to  levy  direct 
taxation;  and  until  191 5,  when  the  Dominion 
parliament,  as  a  war  measure,  passed  an  act 
levying  a  tax  on  excess  profits,  the  only  direct 
taxation  in  '  Canada  was  that  collected  under 
provincial  enactments. 

Legislatures  have  power  to  pledge  the  credit  of 
a  province  to  raise  loans.  They  have  power  also 
to  grant  subsidies  to  railway  companies.  This 
power  was  so  lavishly  used  from  1876  onward 
that  by  the  end  of  1916  the  total  amount  paid 
by  provincial  governments  to  railway  companies 
stood  at  nearly  thirty-seven  and  a  half  million 
dollars. 

Provincial  legislatures  deal  with  what  may  be 
described  as  municipal  affairs  —  using  the  word 
in  a  comprehensive  sense,  and  "generally,"  to 
quote  the  British  North  America  act,  "all  matters 
of  a  merely  local  or  private  nature  within  the 
province." 

Under  the  organic  law  of  the  Dominion  there 
are  three  checks  on  the  legislatures.     The  lieu- 

1  In  the  year  before  the  war —  1913  —  royalties  on  coal 
alone  turned  nearly  $8oo,cxx5  into  the  treasury  of  the  province 
of  Nova  Scotia. 

C  494  ] 


PROVINCIAL  LEGISLATURES 

tenant-governor  can  withhold  the  royal  assent 
to  a  bill.  He  can  reserve  a  bill  for  the  governor- 
general-in-council  at  Ottawa;  and  even  after  a 
bill  has  received  the  royal  assent  and  become 
an  act,  the  governor-general-in-council  —  prac- 
tically the  cabinet  at  Ottawa  —  can  disallow  it. 
Disallowance,  however,  must  be  proclaimed 
within  one  year  after  enactment. 

Under  responsible  government,  as  it  exists  in  Checks 
all  the  provinces,  the  two  checks  that  the  Heu-  ^^'f'* 
tenant-governor  can  exercise  can  seldom  come 
into  service.  They  are  about  as  obsolete  as  the 
king's  veto  at  Westminster  and  at  Ottawa,  and 
for  the  same  reasons.  The  real  check  is  the  power 
of  disallowance  at  Ottawa. 

In  the  early  days  of  Confederation  the  govern-   Power 
ment  at  Ottawa  was  imbued  with  the  idea  that   °' 

dis- 

the  relation  between  the  Dominion  and  the  aUow- 
provinces  was  analogous  to  that  between  parent  *"*^® 
and  child.  It  acted  accordingly.  Disallowance 
was  frequent.  To  the  older  provinces  that  had 
enjoyed  the  full  measure  of  responsible  govern- 
ment for  nearly  twenty  years  before  there  was  a 
parliament  and  privy  council  at  Ottawa,  this 
attitude  of  the  cabinet  was  disturbing.  It  was, 
moreover,  everywhere  resented. 

Cases  were  carried  to  the  judicial  committee   Assumed 
of  the  privy  council   at  London  —  the  court  of  Ef^®^  °' 

,  ...  Dominioi 

last  resort  for  issues    arising  in  Great   Britain's    ctir- 
overseas  possessions.     This  court  overthrew  the   *^^ 
early  conception  of  Ottawa  as  to  the  status  of  the 

[495] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 

provinces,  by  a  series  of  decisions  which  clearly 
established  that  the  provinces,  acting  within 
the  scope  of  their  powers,  conferred  on  them  by 
the  organic  law  of  the  Dominion,  are  almost 
sovereign  states,  and  that  they  are  entitled  to 
exercise  all  the  prerogatives  of  the  crown  not 
conferred  on  the  Dominion.^ 
Dis-  Only  very  infrequently  are  acts  of  the  provin- 

aiiow-  -J    legislatures    disallowed.     Disallowance   is    a 

ance  ° 

in-  power  that  the  Dominion  government  is  exceed- 

frequent  Jngly  loath  to  exercisc.  Its  exercise  is  antago- 
nistic to  the  principle  of  home  rule  on  which  the 
government  of  the  Dominion  itself  is  based;  and 
moreover  the  government  is  as  responsible  to 
parliament  at  Ottawa  for  the  disallowance  of  an 
act  of  a  provincial  legislature  as  it  is  for  any 
other  executive  proceeding. 
Indirect  It  is  Only  through  this  power  of  disallowance 

'^^^^^  ®'    that  the   imperial  government  can   influence  or 
office         check  legislation  by  a  province  that  may  impair 
or    threaten    an    imperial    interest    outside    the 
Dominion. 
Inter-  Intervention  in  such  cases  comes  in  the  form  of 

vention  ^  dispatch  to  the  governor-general  from  the 
White-  secretary  of  state  for  the  colonies.  If  the  objec- 
^^^  tion  so  communicated  from  Whitehall  to  Ottawa 

is  held  to  be  good  by  the  minister  of  justice,  he 

*  "So  far  as  necessarily  and  properly  incidental  to  the 
powers  of  legislation  conferred  upon  them  by  the  British 
North  America  act."  —  Lefroy,  "  Canada's  Federal  System/* 
footnote,  37. 

C  496  ] 


PROVINCIAL  LEGISLATURES 

recommends  the  disallowance  of  the  provincial 
act  to  the  cabinet,  and  disallowance  follows. 

As   recently   before   the   war   as    191 1    an    act   instance 
relating    to    accountants    in    Ontario  —  an    act    °J 
making    accountancy,    like    medicine,    a    closed    vention 
profession,  closed  against  accountants  from  other    **^ 
provinces,  and  also  from  the  United  Kingdom  —   office 
was   disallowed   on    colonial   office    intervention, 
an  intervention  in  the  interests  of  members  of 
the  English  Institute  of  Chartered  Accountants.^ 

There  is  still  in  existence  power  by  which  the 
imperial  government  can  disallow  an  act  of  the 
Dominion  parliament.  But  only  indirectly  can 
it  bring  about  the  disallowance  of  an  act  of  a 
provincial  legislature. 

There  is  one  other  restriction  on  the  powers  of  Restric- 
a  provincial  legislature  which  will  come  at  once    "°°g°g 
to   mind   when   the   chapters   on    Confederation    of 
and  the  British  North  America  act  are  recalled.    1®?^" 

lature 

No  province  may,  without  liability  of  coming 
into  serious  conflict  with  the  government  at 
Ottawa,  legislate  prejudicially  affecting  any  right 
or  privilege  with  respect  to  denominational 
schools  which  any  class  of  persons  —  Protestants 
or  Roman  Catholics  —  had  by  law  at  the  time 
of  the  union  of  1867. 

The  rights  of  minorities  in  respect  to  separate    Separate 
schools  —  parish  schools,  as  they  would  be  called    ^*^^°°^^ 
in   the  United   States  —  are  strictly  safeguarded 
by  the  British  North  America  act.     In  practice 
^  Cf.  Lefroy,  "Canada's  Federal  System,"  33. 

C497] 


ment  of 
judges 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 

four  of  the  provinces  —  British  Columbia,  New 
Brunswick,  Nova  Scotia,  and  Prince  Edward 
Island  —  are  not  affected  by  this  section  of  the 
organic  law  of  the  Dominion.  There  were  no 
parish  schools,  within  the  interpretation  of  section 
93  of  the  British  North  America  act,  in  British 
Columbia  or  in  any  of  the  Maritime  Provinces, 
at  the  times  when  these  four  provinces  entered 
Confederation. 

I.    The  Judicial  System 

Appoint-         Courthouses   are  built   and  maintained  at  the 

expense  of  the  provinces.     Judges,  however,  are 

appointed   by  the  government   at  Ottawa.     On 

reaching  the  age  of  seventy  a  judge  may  retire 

on  pension.     Appointees  to  the  bench  must  be  of 

the  bar  of  the  province  in  which  they  are  to  serve. 

Courts  of        In  each  province  there  is  a  supreme  court  or 

appeal        ^  court  of  appeal.     From  this  court  cases  can  be 

carried  to  the  supreme  court  of  Canada,  which 

holds   its   sessions   at  Ottawa.     In   certain   cases 

appeals  can  be  carried  to  the  judicial  committee 

of  the  privy  council  at  Whitehall.     The   power 

of  the  supreme  court  at  Ottawa  is  not  comparable 

with  that  of  the  supreme  court  at  Washington. 

Legisia-  "In  the  United  States,'*  Mr.  Justice  Riddell, 

tares  and    ^f  ^j^^  supreme  court  of  Ontario,  told  students 

courts        at   Yale    University    in    1916,    **the    courts    are 

supreme:    in   Canada,  the    people  through   their 

representatives.     In  one  country  a  few  men  say 

to  the  legislative  bodies,  *thus  far  shalt  thou  go 

C  498  ] 


PROVINCIAL  LEGISLATURES 

and  no  further/  In  the  other  the  legislating 
bodies  say  to  the  courts,  'thus  far  and  thus 
shalt  thou  go,  and  no  further  or  otherwise/" 

"Half  a   dozen   men   in   the   United    States,"  Aeon- 
continued  Riddell,  "sitting  up  in  a  quiet  chamber,   ^^^ 
can  paralyze  the  activity  of  a  senate  and  house,   supreme 
may    say    that    a    measure    imperatively    called   ^J*^ 
for  in  the  public  interest  cannot  be  validly  en-   United 
acted,  and  the  legislators,  the  people,  are  help-  ^*^ 
less.      That   is   called   republicanism,  democratic   of  the 
government;    and  there  is  searching  of  soul  and   ^°™^°" 
shaking  of  heads,  when  anyone  suggests  that  the 
people  be  asked  if  that  little  coterie  have  cor- 
rectly interpreted  the  popular  will  formerly  and 
formally  expressed   in   a  state  constitution.     In 
Canada  should   the  court  fail  to  apprehend  the 
real  intention  of  an  enactment,  any  government 
which  can  command  the  support  of  the  people 
can  at  once  correct  the  error."  ^ 

Occasionally  men  have  been  appointed  to  the 
bench  in  Canada  whose  distinction  had  been 
achieved,  not  at  the  bar,  but  by  long  and  con- 
tinuous service  in  Dominion  politics.  But  there 
is  less  of  politics,  and  political  maneuvers,  in 
connection  with  the  courts  than  in  any  other 
department  of  state  service  in  the  Dominion. 

The  judiciary  stands  high  in  public  estimation    judiciary 
—  as  high  as  the  judiciary  of  the  United  King-   ^ 
dom;    and  it  there  is  one  department  of  state  in    esteem 
Canada  that  is  imbued  and  permeated  with  the 
1  Riddell,  145-146. 

C  499  ] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 

spirit  that  actuates  the  people  of  England  and 
Scotland  in  the  working  of  their  political  institu- 
tions—  local  as  well  as  national — it  is  that  which 
is  charged  with  the  administration  of  justice. 

II.    Character  of  Municipal  and  Provincial 
Governments 

Munici-  Each  of  the  provinces  has  its  own  municipal 
^  code  for  the  organization  and  administration  of 

municipal    affairs    in    counties,    villages,    towns, 

and  cities.     Each  legislature  enacts  its  own  code; 

but  the  codes  of  the  several  provinces  are  fairly 

uniform. 
Vari-  In   municipal   organization    and   economy   the 

ations  provinces  have  not  followed  British  precedents 
British  as  closely  as  these  have  been  followed  from 
municipal   ^q  beginning  of  political  civilization  in  Canada 

system         •  ,  •         •  r      i  •  i 

m  the  organization  or  the  representative  and 
administrative  institutions  of  the  provinces  and 
the  Dominion. 

More  of  the  municipal  officers  in  Canada  are 
directly  elected  than  in  Great  Britain.  There 
is  also  some  divergence  from  the  British  system 
in  the  organization  of  municipal  councils.  Mont- 
real has  long  been  notorious  for  its  poor,  loose, 
and  inefficient  municipal  administration.^     It  is 

1  Cf.  Queen's  Quarterly,  Kingston,  Vol.  XXV,  No.  2,  130; 
L.  D.  David,  "Our  Municipal  Situation,"  Gazettey  Montreal, 
October  14,  1917;  "Municipal  Affairs,"  Gazette,  October  16, 
1917;  "Gave  Montreal  a  Poor  Character,"  Gazette,  November 
2,   1917;    "The  City's  Government,"  Gazette,  November  3; 

[500] 


con- 
ditions 


PROVINCIAL  LEGISLATURES 

singular  in  this  respect  among  the  cities  of  the 
Dominion;  for  elsewhere  municipal  administra- 
tion —  like  the  administration  of  justice  all  over 
the  Dominion  —  attains  the  municipal  standards 
of  England  and  Scotland. 

The  reputation  of  the  provinces  of  Ontario,    PoUticai 
Nova  Scotia,   and   Prince   Edward   Island   for  a 
generation    before    the    war    stood    high.     The   in 
history  of  these  three  provinces  in  this  period  is   ^°^" 
free  from  exposures  of  ineptitude,   disregard  of 
public  interests,  and   corruption.     Their  govern- 
ment was  stable,  and  little  affected  by  the  ups 
and  downs  of  parties  in  Dominion  politics. 

Their  legislatures,  their  administrations,  and 
the  provincial  officers  working  under  the  direction 
and  supervision  of  these  administrations,  enjoyed 
popular  confidence  and  esteem.  People  of  On- 
tario, Nova  Scotia,  and  Prince  Edward  Island 
had  to  offer  no  apologies  for  political  conditions 
in  their  provinces. 

Of  none  of  the  other  six  provinces  could  similar 
statements    be    made.^     Governments    in    these 

"Citizens'  Association  Discuss  City  Government,  Gazette, 
November  3;  "Municipal  Honors,"  Gazettey  Montreal. 
December  i,  1917. 

^  "There  is  not  much  evidence  of  administrative  jobbery 
under  Sir  Lomer  Gouin  in  Quebec.  In  New  Brunswick  there 
have  been  many  deplorable  incidents,  but  unfortunately 
there  has  always  been  a  good  deal  of  political  looseness  in 
that  province.  Gross  corruption  has  been  exposed  in  Mani- 
toba and  Saskatchewan.  There  is  much  suspicion  surround- 
ing methods  of  administration  in  Alberta.     The  government 

[501] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 


Exposure 
of 

corrup- 
tion 


Scandals 

in 

Manitoba 

and 

British 

Columbia 


Replen- 
ishing 
campaign 
ftmds 


provinces  were  not  always  pointed  to  with  pride. 
Exposures  —  some  of  them  forthcoming  at  trials 
in  the  criminal  courts  —  of  corruption  in  connec- 
tion with  contracts  for  public  buildings,  railway- 
subsidies,  government  guarantees  of  bonds  of 
railway  undertakings,  grants  of  public  lands  to 
promoters  of  railways,  or  scandals  in  the  legis- 
latures, or  scandals  in  connection  with  campaign 
funds  or  the  liquor  trade  were,  in  the  fifteen  or 
twenty  years  before  the  war,  common  to  all  of 
them. 

Peculiarly  gross  scandals  were  revealed  in 
Manitoba  in  1916;  in  British  Columbia  in  1917; 
and  in  New  Brunswick  in  1916,  and  again  in 
191 7.  In  Manitoba  it  was  corruption  in  the 
awarding  of  contracts  for  a  new  legislative 
building.^  In  British  Columbia  it  was  graft  in 
abundance  in  connection  with  subsidies  to  a 
railway  company  —  some  of  which  accrued  to  a 
campaign  fund  of  the  Conservative  party  — 
that  was  laid  bare. 

It  was  the  same  in  New  Brunswick,  where  it 
was  revealed  in  191 7  that  in  191 2  the  campaign 
fund  of  the  local  Conservative  party  was  gener- 


of  British  Columbia  is  under  attack,  and  wholesale  persona- 
tion has  been  exposed  in  Vancouver.  Thus  conditions  in  the 
west  may  warrant  the  deliverance  of  the  Methodist  Laymen's 
Association.  But  the  statements  are  not  justified  by  condi- 
tions in  Ontario."  —  News^  Toronto,  June  18,  19 16. 

1  Cf.  "The  Manitoba  Trial,"  Gazette^  Montreal,  September 
6,  1916. 
[502] 


PROVINCIAL  LEGISLATURES 

ously  replenished  by  a  contractor  then  engaged 
in  building  a  railway,  the  second  mortgage  bonds 
of  which  had  been  guaranteed  by  the  provincial 
government  at  Fredericton. 

At  this  revelation  in  New  Brunswick,  where 
there  had  been  a  campaign-fund  exposure  in 
1916,^  the  Gazette,  of  Montreal,  long  the  leading 
Conservative  newspaper  of  the  Dominion,  edi- 
torially recalled  the  similar  scandal  revealed  in 
British  Columbia,  in  May,  191 7.  "Now,"  it 
continued,^  "come  charges  of  a  similar  nature, 
with  New  Brunswick  as  the  center.  East  or 
west,  it  is  all  the  same."  * 

*  Cf.  "How  Parties  Are  Recruited,"  Tribunf,  Winnipeg, 
June  7,  19 16. 

*  August  17,  1917. 

'  Revelations  of  political  conditions  In  several  of  the 
provinces  in  1916-1917  were  described  in  the  undermentioned 
editorial  articles: 

"What  Is  a  Party  For?"  Tribune,  Winnipeg,  April  20,  1916. 

"Under  Thick  Clouds,"  Tribune,  Winnipeg,  June  24,  1916. 

"  Game's  Up  in  New  Brunswick,"  Citizen,  Ottawa,  May  19, 
1916. 

"A  Trial  of  Import,"  Gazette,  Montreal,  June  16,  1916. 

"The  Manitoba  Trial,"  Gazette,  Montreal,  September  6, 
1916. 

"A  Western  Scandal,"  Gazette,  Montreal,  May  14,  19 17. 

"A  Bit  Too  Thick,"  Beacon,  Stratford,  Ontario,  reprinted. 
Globe,  Toronto,  August  4,  19 17. 

"Campaign  Contributions,"  Globe,  Toronto,  August  18, 
1917. 

"The  Flemming  Incident,"  and  also  "Sir  Hibbert  Tupper 
as  a  Critic,"  Tribune,  Winnipeg,  August  21,  1917. 

C503] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA 

III.    Political  Civilization  in  New  and  in  Old 
World  Countries 

Where  These   failures   of  leaders  of  political   parties 

responsi-    ^j^q  were  in  control  at  several  of  the  provincial 

biUty  •      1        •  1  L    r  1 

for  capitals    m    the    twenty    years    before    the    war 

*°*^"  to  maintain  high  standards  in  public  life  —  like 
politics  obvious  evils  that  have  developed  in  fifty  years' 
lies  working  of  the  representative  and  administrative 

institutions  of  the  Dominion  —  are,  it  must  be 
emphasized,  not  inherent  in  the  democratic 
franchises  on  which  the  house  of  commons  at 
Ottawa  and  the  provincial  legislatures  are 
elected.  Nor  are  they  inherent  in  the  system  of 
responsible  government  —  a  system  which,  with 
the  constitutional  machinery  of  which  the  cabinet 
is  the  center,  and  with  the  wide  powers  conferred 
on  the  governments  of  the  Dominion  and  of  the 
provinces  by  the  constitution  of  1867,  can  be 
made  to  afford  the  Canadian  people  a  larger 
political  freedom  than  is  enjoyed  under  the 
constitutional  system  of  any  other  country. 
Democ-  Fifty  years  in  the  life  of  a  nation  is  a  very 

^^^  brief  period;     and    conditions    in    Canada    from 

new  and     Confederation  to  191 7  are  not  likely  to  continue 
develop-     indefinitely.     In   this   period,    and   in    particular 
country      ftom  1880  to  1914,  Canada  was  essentially  a  new 
and  developing  country.     In   new   and   develop- 
ing countries  public  spirit  is  seldom  continuously 
operative  at  its  full  strength.     It  is  usually  not 
aggressive  in  asserting  itself. 
[504] 


PROVINCIAL  LEGISLATURES 

There  are  no  long  traditions  of  service  to  the   Lack  of 
state.     Social  distinction  does  not  go  in  the  fullest   tJ^aditions 
measure  to  men  who  are  serving  the  state,  except,   service 
perhaps,  in  the  highest  offices.     Opportunities  for   *°  *^® 
making  money — for  piling  up  wealth  —  are  much 
more  numerous  than  in   an   old  world   country; 
and  men  who  are  making  money  by  exploiting 
the  resources  and  people  of  a  new  country  —  men 
who  are  wholly  engrossed   in   making  money  — 
are  disposed  to   be  indifferent   as  to   the   forces 
that    are    molding    the    political    civilization    in 
which  they  live.     Especially  is  this  so  if  the  poli-    "PoUtics 
ticians  are  complaisant  and  accommodating  when   °' 
men  who  are  concerned   only  in  the  "politics  of 
business"  —  men  who   are   always   amply  repre- 
sented at  the  political  capitals  of  new  world  coun- 
tries —  are  seeking  tariff  and  bounty  concessions, 
and    other    valuable    concessions    and    privileges 
which  it  is  in  the  power  of  government  to  bestow. 

The   development   of  political    standards    and    stand- 
ideals,  and  the  establishment  of  rules  and  codes   ^^^s 
of  political  life  and  conduct,  are  apt  to  be  post-    ideals 
poned  to  a  more  convenient  season,  until  individ-   slow  in 
ual  and  national  material  success  shall  have  been   Ashing 
abundantly  achieved.     Obviously  in  a  new  coun-    t^*™- 
try  democracy  as  regards  the  electoral  franchise 
and   the  working  of  representative  institutions, 
such  as  parliament  and  the  cabinet,  has  not  the 
fair  field  that  since  1867,  and   particularly  since 
1 884-1 885,     has     been     the     good     fortune     of 
democracy  in  England  and  Scotland. 

C  505  ] 


SOURCES  AND  AUTHORITIES 

Adderley,  Sir  C.  B.  "The  Colonial  Policy 
of  Lord  J.  Russell's  Administration,  and  Subse- 
quent History."     1869. 

Acer,  Clarus.  "The  Farmer  and  the  Inter- 
ests, A  Study  in  Parasitism.'*     1916. 

Argyll,  Ninth  Duke  of.  "Passages  from 
the  Past."     1907. 

AuDETTE,  A.  L.  "Canadian  Historical  Dates 
and  Events."     1918. 

Begg,  Alexander,  "History  of  British  Colum- 
bia."    1894. 

Bell,  Sydney  Smith.  "Colonial  Administra- 
tion of  Great  Britain."     1859. 

Benson,  A.  C,  and  Esher,  Viscount.  "The 
Letters  of  Queen  Victoria,  1837-1861."     1907. 

BouRiNOT,  J.  G.  "How  Canada  is  Governed." 
1895. 

BouRiNOT,  Sir  J.  G.     "Canada."     1908. 

Boyd,  J.  "Sir  George  Etienne  Cartier.  A 
Political  History  of  Canada  from  18 14  until 
1873."     1914. 

Bradshaw,  E.  "  Self-Government  in  Canada, 
and  How  It  Was  Achieved."     1909. 

Bruce,  Sir  Charles.  "The  Broadstone  of 
Empire:     Problems  of  Crown  Colony  Adminis- 

C507] 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE    DOMINION    OF    CANADA 

tration,  with  Records  of  Personal  Experience." 
1910. 

Buckingham,  William,  and  Ross,  George  W. 
"The  Hon.  Alexander  Mackenzie:  His  Life  and 
Times."     1892. 

Burpee,  L.  J.  "Sandford  Fleming:  Empire 
Builder."     1915. 

Burt,  A.  F.  "Imperial  Architects:  Propos- 
als in  the  Direction  of  a  Closer  Imperial  Union, 
Made  Previous  to  the  First  Colonial  Conference 
of  1897."     1913. 

Canadian  Council  of  Agriculture,  Winnipeg. 
"The  Farmers'  Platform."     1917. 

"Canadian  Politics,  Handbook  on."     1904. 

Canal  Commission.  Sessional  Papers,  Ottawa, 
1871.     No.  54. 

Cartwright,  Sir  Richard.  "Reminiscences." 
1912. 

Clarke,  C.  "  Sixty  Years  of  Upper  Canada." 
1908. 

Clifford,  Frederick.  "A  History  of  Private 
Bill  Legislation."     1885. 

Clowes,  W.,  and  Sons.  "Rules  and  Regu- 
lations for  Her  Majesty's  Colonial  Service." 
1843. 

Cowie,  F.  W.  "The  Transportation  Prob- 
lem in  Canada  and  Montreal  Harbor."  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Institute  of  Civil  Engineers, 
London.     1915. 

Denison,  William.  "  Varieties  of  Vice-regal 
Life."     1870. 

C508] 


SOURCES  AND  AUTHORITIES 

Durham,  Lord.  "Report  on  the  Affairs  of 
British  North  America."  Edited  by  Sir  C.  P. 
Lucas.     1912. 

Edgar,  J.  D.  "Canada  and  Its  Capital. 
With  Sketches  of  Political  and  Social  Life  at 
Ottawa.'*     1898. 

Egerton,  H.  E.,  and  Grant,  W.  L.  "Cana- 
dian Constitutional  Developments,  Shown  by 
Selected  Speeches  and  Despatches,  with  Intro- 
ductions and  Explanatory  Notes."     1907. 

Egerton,  H.  E.  "A  Historical  Geography 
of  the  British  Colonies."  Edited  by  Sir  Charles 
P.  Lucas.     Vol.  V,  "Canada."     1908. 

Gray,  J.  H.  "Confederation  of  Canada." 
1871. 

Grey,  Charles,  Third  Earl  Grey.  "The 
Colonial  Policy  of  Lord  John  Russell's  Adminis- 
tration."    1853. 

Griffin,  Watson.  "Canada:  The  Country 
of  the  Twentieth  Century."     191 5. 

Hammond,  M.  O.  "Confederation  and  Its 
Leaders."     1917. 

Harpell,  James  J.  "Canadian  National 
Economy:  The  Cause  of  High  Prices  and  Their 
Effect  upon  the  Country."     1911. 

Herbertson,  a.  J.,  and  Howarth,  O.  J.  R. 
"The  Oxford  Survey  of  the  British  Empire. 
America:  Including  Canada,  Newfoundland,  the 
British  West  Indies,  and  the  Falkland  Islands 
and  Dependencies."  Vol.  IV,  1914;  also  "Gen- 
eral Survey,"  Vol.  VI,  1914. 

[  509  ] 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE  DOMINION  OF   CANADA 

HuRD,  P.  and  A.  "The  New  Empire  Partner- 
ship."    1916. 

Johnson,  Stanley  C.  "A  History  of  Emi- 
gration from  the  United  Kingdom  to  North 
America,  1763-1912."     1913. 

Keith,  A.  B.  "Responsible  Government  in 
the  Dominions."     1909. 

Leroy,  a.  H.  F.  "Canada's  Federal  System; 
A  Treatise  on  Canadian  Constitutional  Law 
under  the  British  North  America  Act."     191 3- 

Liberal  Convention  of  1893.  Official  Report 
of  the  Liberal  Convention  Held  in  Response  to 
the  Call  of  Hon.  Wilfrid  Laurier,  Leader  of  the 
Liberal  Party  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada.     1893. 

Mackenzie,  Alexander.  "The  Life  and 
Speeches  of  George  Brown."     1882. 

Macphail,  Andrew.  "Essays  in  Politics." 
1909. 

Merivale,  Herman.  "Lectures  on  Coloniza- 
tion and  Colonies."     1841. 

Parker,  C.  S.     "Sir  Robert  Peel."     1899. 

PoRRiTT,  E.  and  A.  G.  "The  Unreformed 
House  of  Commons:  Parliamentary  Represen- 
tation before  1832."     1903. 

PoRRiTT,  E.  "A  Century  and  a  Half  of  Eng- 
lish Journalism  in  Canada."  The  World's  Press. 
London,  1906. 

PoRRiTT,  E.  "Sixty  Years  of  Protection  in 
Canada."     1908. 

Pope,  Sir  Joseph.  "Memoirs  of  the  Right 
Honourable    Sir    John    Alexander    MacDonald, 

C510] 


SOURCES  AND  AUTHORITIES 

G.  C.  B.,  First  Prime  Minister  of  the  Dominion 
of  Canada/'     1894. 

Pope,  Sir  Joseph.  "Confederation  Papers." 
1895. 

Reid,  Stuart  J.  "Life  and  Letters  of  the 
First  Earl  of  Durham,  1792-1840."     1906. 

Report  of  Proceedings  in  the  Hearing  by  Mem- 
bers of  the  Government  of  the  Farmers'  Dele- 
gation, December  16,  1910.     191 1. 

RiDDELL,  William  Renwick.  "The  Consti- 
tution of  Canada  in  Its  History  and  Practical 
Working."     1917. 

Roche,  W.J.  "Immigration:  Facts  and  Fig- 
ures."    1915. 

Ross,  Sir  George  Willlam.  "The  Senate  of 
Canada."     1910. 

Rules  of  the  House  of  Commons  of  Canada. 
1909. 

Saunders,  E.  M.  "Life  and  Letters  of  Sir 
Charles  Tupper."     1916. 

ScROPE,  G.  PouLETT.  "Memoir  of  the  Life 
of  Lord  Sydenham.  With  a  Narrative  of  His 
Administration  in  Canada."     1843. 

Sinclair,  Robert  Victor.  "The  Rules  and 
Practice  before  the  Parliament  of  Canada  upon 
Bills  of  Divorce."     19x5. 

Stimson,  E.  R.  "History  of  the  Separation  of 
Church  and  State  in  Canada."     1888. 

Todd,  Alpheus.  "  Parliamentary  Government 
in  the  British  Colonies."     1880. 

Tremenheere,  Hugh  Seymour.     "Notes  on 

[5"] 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE   DOMINION   OF    CANADA 

Public  Subjects,  Made  During  a  Tour  in  the 
United  States  and  Canada/'     1852. 

TuppER,  Sir  Charles.  "Recollections  of 
Sixty  Years/'     1914. 

Wallace,  W.  S.  "The  United  Empire  Loyal- 
ists: A  Chronicle  of  the  Great  Migration." 

Walrond,  Theodore.  "Letters  and  Journals 
of  the  Earl  of  Elgin."     1872. 

Weaver,  Emily  P.  "A  Canadian  History." 
1900. 

WiLLSON,  Beckles.  "Life  of  Lord  Strathcona 
and  Mount  Royal."     1915. 

WiLLisoN,  J.  S.  "Sir  Wilfrid  Laurier  and 
the  Liberal  Party."     1903. 

Wrong,  G.  M.,  Willison,  Sir  John,  Lash, 
Z.  A.,  and  Falconer,  R.  A.  "The  Federation  of 
Canada."     1917. 


C512: 


INDEX 


Abbott,  Sir  John  J.  C, 
290,  362 

Aberdeen,  Earl  of,  155,  256 

Aberdeen  government,  158 

Act  of  1774,  64 

Act  of  1905,  increasing  allow- 
ances of  members  of  parlia- 
ment, 388 

Act  of  1872,  against  dual 
representation,  334 

Act  of  Union,  1840,  108,  109; 
and  raising  of  revenue, 
109;  demands  not  con- 
ceded in,  no 

Adams,  G.  B.,  72  n 

Adderley,  colonial  secretary, 
206,  226 

Addington,  speaker,  380 

Address  to  the  crown,  debate 
on,  403,  404,  405,  406 

Adjournment,  leave  to  move, 
426 

Advertising  by  Canada,  448, 

479 
Agriculture,  minister  of,  354 
Agriculture,   power  of  prov- 
inces over,  234 
Alabama  claims,  201,  206 
Alberta,  14,  31,  41,  188,  212, 


474;  created  a  province, 
16;  climate  of,  18;  and 
crown  lands,  56;  and 
divorce,  166;  and  federal 
union,  217;  and  separate 
schools,  239,  371;  and  the 
senate,  270;  representation 
of,  in  house  of  commons, 
305,  309;  and  the  cabinet, 
358;  and  enfranchisement 
of  women,  376;  and  Brit- 
ish preference,  440;  and 
single-chamber  legislature, 
48s 

Algoma,  317;  franchise  in 
territory  of,  318 

American  revolution,  lesson 
of,  II 

Amherst,  N.  S.,  198 

Antigonish,  317 

Appropriation  bills,  419 

Argyll,  Duke  of,  255;  remi- 
niscences of,  256 

Aristocracy,  hereditary,  at- 
tempt to  establish,  70; 
dislike  of,  366;  end  of 
third  attempt  to  establish, 
370 

Ashcroft,  so 

[513] 


INDEX 


Attorney-general,  354 

Augusta,  Maine,  201 

Australia,  59,  166;  and  con- 
victs, 61;  and  British 
connection,  129;  and  fiscal 
freedom,  443;  and  British 
preference,  448 

Austria,  and  British  com- 
mercial treaties,  449 

Autonomy  for  dominions, 
and  tie  to  Great  Britain,  12 

Bagot,  Sir  Charles,  hi, 
119,  123,  145,  179;  life 
of,  116;  English  disap- 
proval of,  118 

Baldwin,  Robert,  117,  120, 
123,  251;  and  responsible 
government,  124 

Balfour,  A.  J.,  443 

Ballot  papers,  346;    counting 

of,  347 

Banks,  representative,  202 

Baronetcies,  in  Canada,  73, 
36s,  366 

Barrie,  Isaac,  64 

Belgium,  and  British  prefer- 
ence, 442,  443 

Belle  Island,  29 

Bicameral    system,    56,    484, 

485 
Bilingual  legislatures,  75,  80, 

108,  152,  403 
Bill  No.  I,  386 
Bills,  rejected  by  senate,  272, 

288;      procedure     on,     in 

house    of   commons,    409, 

C514] 


410,  411;  stages  of,  411, 
422;  reserved,  412;  classes 
of,  414;   appropriation,  419 

Bills,  reserved,  in  Act  of 
Union,  HO 

Black  rod,  280,  384 

Blaine,  J.  G.,  203 

Blair,  minister  of  railways 
and  canals,  374 

Blake,  Edward,  11,  310,  332, 
362,  412,  414 

Borden,  Sir  Robert  L.,  298, 
314,  333>  363;  and  cabinet, 
360;  attends  British  cabinet 
meetings,  364 

Borden  government,  301, 
353;    and  obstruction,  422 

Boston,  35 

Bounties,  on  hemp,  in  New 
Brunswick,  174;  on  fish, 
in  Prince  Edward  Island, 
174;  opposed  by  liberals, 
395;  and  National  Policy, 
430,  434,  457;  on  iron 
and  steel,  479 

Bowell,  Sir  Mackenzie,  290, 

374 

Boyd,  72  n,  82  n 

Brandon,  20,  471 

Brassey,  Lord,  113 

Bridge,  The,  38,  217;  climate 
of,  40;  and  the  prairie 
provinces,  40 

Bright,  John,  333 

British  cabinet,  and  Cana- 
dian premiers,  364 

British  empire,  extent  of,  2 


INDEX 


British,  and  election  to  Do- 
minion house  of  commons, 
330 

British  colonial  history, 
dreary  period  in,  82 

British  colonial  policy,  three 
eras  in,  9;  and  central 
Canada,  23;  previous  to 
1846,  81;  and  British 
shipping,  81;  until  1846, 
109;  and  responsible  gov- 
ernment,  144;    change   in, 

British  colonies,  in  1783,  59; 
indifference  to,  60 

British  Columbia,  16,  163, 
187,  213,  297,  305;  indus- 
tries of,  46;  boundaries 
of,  49;  description  of, 
50;  people  of,  51;  immi- 
gration into,  5 1 ;  history  of, 
before  Confederation,  52, 
54;  statesmen  of,  53; 
and  Confederation,  55; 
and  crown  lands,  56;  and 
immigration  57,  327;  and 
grain-growing  provinces, 
57;  resources  of,  57;  poli- 
cies of,  58;  and  sectarian 
education,  75;  and  bi- 
lingual legislature,  75;  and 
protection,  176;  and  Bul- 
wer  Lytton,  191;  and 
Confederation,  211,  220; 
and  Chinese  immigration, 
234;  and  unsectarian 
schools,      242;      and     the 


senate,  270;  divorce  courts 
in,  287;  and  the  cabinet, 
358;  and  bounties,  431; 
and  railways,  471;  and 
single-chamber  legislature, 
484;  and  separate  schools, 
498;    scandals  in,  502 

British  connection,  162; 
strengthening  of,  131;  and 
French  Canada,  153,  154; 
and  the  senate,  271 

British  navy,  398,  422 

British  North  America  act, 
180,  216,  339;  and  reso- 
lutions of  Quebec  con- 
vention, 200;  in  parlia- 
ment, 205,  206;  working 
of,  214;  division  of  powers 
in,  228;  provisions  of,  229; 
and  education,  236,  238, 
497;  and  money  bills,  249; 
and  representation  in  house 
of  commons,  306;  and 
electoral  franchises,  317; 
and  assembling  of  parlia- 
ment, 378;  and  the  prov- 
inces, 483,  494,  497 

British  North  American  prov- 
inces, number  of,  74; 
rights  of,  in  1867,  213,  327 

British  parliament,  and  Ca- 
nadian reforms,  151,  159; 
and  clergy  reserves  bill, 
156;  procedure  of,  400 

British  preference,  none  be- 
fore 1897,  177,  447;  of 
1897,     435;      reduced     in 


INDEX 


1907*  435.  452;  protection 
and,  437;  and  British 
trade,  437;  political  effect 
of,  439,  451;  and  grain 
growers,  441;  return  for, 
447;  for  other  colonies,  448; 
as  advertising,  448;  and 
United  States,  450;  effects 
of,  451;  adopted  by  other 
dominions,  451 

British  West  Indies,  59 

Brockville,  106 

Brown,  George,  11,  162,  332; 
and  Confederation,  195, 
197,  209,  220;  and  schools 
question,  237;  and  elective 
senators,  268;  and  sena- 
torial divisions,  271;  and 
senate  deadlocks,  276;  as 
senator,  290;  and  reciproc- 
ity, 454 

Bruce,  Sir  Charles,  8  n 

Bruce,  "Broadstone  of  Em- 
pire," 88  n 

Buchanan,  Isaac,  169 

Budget,  415;  debate  on,  417; 
of  provinces,  493 

Buffalo,  32,  35,  36 

Burke,  Edmund,  64 

Burpee,  64  n 

Bytown,  Ottawa,  106 

Cabinet,  and  the  senate, 
293;  and  elections,  351; 
appointment  to,  351,  355; 
members  of,  352,  353; 
salaries    of    members    of, 

[516] 


354;  representation  of, 
provinces  in,  357,  358; 
and  ministry,  363;  and 
titles,  369;  reelection  after 
appointment  to,  370;  func- 
tions of,  372;  collective 
responsibility  of,  373;  res- 
ignations from,  373;  and 
open  questions,  376;  and 
assembling  of  parliament, 
378 

Cabinet  government,  estab- 
lishment of,  112;  in  United 
Provinces,  164 

Cabinet  ministers,  reelection 
of,  370,  371;  resignation 
of»  373>  374;  duties  of, 
377 

Cabinet  system,  based  on 
usage,  249 

Calder,  of  Saskatchewan,  359 

Calgary,  26 

Cameron,  Simon,  204 

Canada,  in  1783,  59;  popu- 
lation of,  60 

Canada,  Dominion  of,  area 
of,  13;  coastline  of,  14; 
climate  of,  18 

Canadians  and  election  to 
British  parliament,  330 

Canadian  barons,  37 

Canadian  Manufacturers' 
Association,  453 

Canadian  Northern  Railway, 

57 
Canadian     Pacific     Railway, 
25,  36,  38,  41,  457;    open- 


INDEX 


ing  of,  15;  double-tracking 
of,  473 

Canadian  Pacific  Railway 
scandal  of  1872,  260,  335, 
336 

Canals,  American,  15 

Canals,  Canadian,  15 

Candidates  for  election,  de- 
posits by,  341,  342;  nomi- 
nation papers  of,  344; 
and  ballot  papers,  346 

Cape  Breton,  as  province, 
74  « 

Cape  Colony,  145 

Cardwell,  Edward,  secretary 
for  colonies,  207 

Carleton,  Guy,  182 

Carnarvon,  Earl  of,  206; 
and  Confederation,  221, 
226;  and  separate  schools, 
238,  246 

Cartier,  George  Etienne,  11, 
72 «,  86,  190,  424;  and 
Confederation,  191,  209, 
223 

Cartier,  Jacques,  15 

Cartier-Macdonald  govern- 
ment, 197 

Cartwright,  Sir  Richard,  11, 
99,  290,  291,  333 

Cattle  ranching,  44 

Caucus,  387,  388,  420 

Cayley  tariff,   167,  169,  175, 

398 
Census  of  industries,  471 
Central    Canada,     22;      and 

Canadian       constitutional 


history,  23;  and  manu- 
facturing, 29 

Ceylon,  87 

Chairing  a  member,  328 

Chamberlain,  Joseph,  113, 
333;  and  colonial  prefer- 
ences, 452 

Charlottetown,  17,  24;  con- 
ference of,  in  1864,  74 

Charlottetown  convention, 
198 

Chatham,  Earl  of,  64,  65 

Chiltern  Hundreds,  350 

China,  trade  with,  471 

Chinese,  in  British  Colum- 
bia, 234 

Civil  list,  in  Act  of  Union, 
109;  amendment  concern- 
ing, 152;   control  over,  163 

Civil  servants,  and  the  fran- 
chise, 320,  323,  328 

Clarke,  Charles,  109  n 

Clarus  Ager,  37  n,  47  w 

Clear  Grits,  148 

Clergy  reserves,  70,  155,  163, 
177;  at  union  of  provinces, 
105;  settlement  of  ques- 
tion of,  151,  156;  and 
tithes,  15s  n 

Clerk  of  the  crown  in  chan- 
cery, 338 

Closure,  421,  422;  and 
Quebec,  424 

Coal  companies,  of  Nova 
Scotia  and  Alberta,  36 

Coal,  duties  on,  432;  and 
reciprocity,  457 

C517] 


INDEX 


Coal  fields,  19;  of  Nova 
Scotia,  433 

Coal  supplies  of  Canada,  20 

Colborne,  35 

CoUingwood,  35 

Colonial  Advocate,  91 

Colonial  constitutions,  67 

Colonial  office,  and  respon- 
sible government,  144; 
and  fiscal  policy  of 
colonies,  174;  and  provin- 
cial governments,  487;  and 
provincial  legislation,  496 

Colonial  policy,  British,  see 
British  Colonial  Policy 

Colonies,  and  British  con- 
nection, 129 

Commercial  policy  of  Great 
Britain,  81 

Commercial  treaties,  right  to 
make,  150 

Committee  stage  on  bills,  411 

Committees  of  house  of  com- 
mons, 407 

Compensation  for  rebellion 
losses,  135 

Concurrent  legislation,  233 

Concurrent  tariff  legislation, 
461 

Confederation,  principle  of 
representation  at,  107; 
coming  of,  180;  influences 
for,  181;  first  suggestions 
of,  182,  183;  forces  for, 
188;  agreement  concern- 
ing, 198;  and  Quebec  con- 
vention,   199;     resolutions 

[518] 


against  in  Congress,  202; 
British  attitude  towards, 
210;  and  separate  schools 
question,  236;  and  pro- 
tection, 432;  and  bicameral 
legislatures,  484 
Confederation,     Fathers    of, 

189,  206,  208,  214,  223 
Conference    between    senate 

and  house,  285 
Connaught,  Duke  of,  256 
Conservatives,  150,  343;   and 
the  senate,  288,  301;    and 
electoral     franchises,    320; 
and   the  tariff,   398,    434; 
and  British  preference,  439, 
440 
Consolidated  fund,  152 
Constitution  of  Canada,  228- 

233 
Constitution  of  Dominion  of 

Canada,  unwritten,  249 
Constitution  of  United  Prov- 
inces, 249;   amendments  to 

151,  157,  160 
Convention   of  18 18,    threat 

to  abrogate,  187 
Convicts,  and  transportation, 

61;    in  American  colonies, 

61 
Cornwall,  Ontario,  106 
Corruption,  at  Toronto  and 

Quebec,  82;  at  Ottawa,  85, 

257 
Cost  of  living  in  Canada,  481 
Cotton  industry  and  National 

Policy,  469 


INDEX 


Cowie,  F.  W.,  34  n 

Crown  colonies,  and  colonial 
office,  i;  government  of, 
6;  classification  of,  6; 
British  policy  towards,  7; 
grants  in  aid  to,  8;  and 
British  preference,  448 

Crown  colony  rule,  before 
1837,  86,  87;  modem 
principles  of,  88 

Crown  lands,  149;  at  Con- 
federation, 56;  in  British 
North  America  act,  233; 
granted  to  railways,  473; 
and   provincial  legislation, 

493.  494 
Customs  duties,  416 
Customs,  ministerof,  354,  363 

Dawson  City,  299 

Deadlock,  between  senate 
and  house,  275 

Debates  in  parliament,  re- 
porting of,  398;  and 
closure,  423,  424 

Democracy  in  Canada,  499, 
504;  in  1840-1867,  179 

Denison,  Sir  William,  and  re- 
sponsible government,  252 

Denmark,  trade  with,  471 

Dent,  John  Charles,  84  n 

Department  of  immigration 
and  colonization,  352,  359 

Department  of  interior,  353 

Departments,  government, 
3S2>  353»  354;  and  esti- 
mates, 418 


Deposits  by  candidates,  342, 

344>  345 
Deputy  speaker,  383 
Derby    administration,    191, 

209,  212 

Derby,  Earl  of  (Lord  Stan- 
ley), 141,  158,  160;  and 
"  Dominion  of  Canada,'* 
200 

Derby-Disraeli    government, 

210,  221 

Desks,  in  house  of  commons, 

392 

Detroit  River,  60 

Dingley  bill,  450,  467 

Direct  taxation,  494 

Disallowance  of  legislation, 
234.  253,  495,  496,  497 

Disqualifications  of  parlia- 
mentary candidates,  333 

Disraeli,  Benjamin,  212,  333 

Dissolution  of  parliament, 
335;  in  1872,  336;  in  1911, 
336;    by  governor-general, 

337 

Divorce  and  United  Prov- 
inces legislature,  165;  at 
Confederation,  166 

Divorce  bills,  in  senate,  284, 
286;  number  of,  286;  and 
Ontario  and  Quebec,  287; 
reserved,  412 

Divorce  courts,  287 

Doak,  printer,  75 

Dominion  of  Canada,  483; 
rights  of,  215;  and  British 
treaties,    215;     powers   of, 

C519] 


INDEX 


224;     status    of,    in    1876, 

413 

Dominion  franchise  bill  of 
1885,  319;  condemned  in 
provinces,  321;  arguments 
against,  322;  repealed  in 
1898,  323 

Dominion  government,  211; 
and  grants  to  railways,  473; 
and  subventions  to  prov- 
inces, 493 

Dominion  Trades  and  Labor 
Congress,  344 

Dominions,  and  colonial 
office,  i;  enumerated,  2; 
area  of,  3;  population  of, 
3;  tariffs  of,  4;  and 
contributions  to  Great 
Britain,  4;  and  British 
national  debt,  4;  no  in- 
terference with,  from 
Westminister,  5 

Draper-Viger  government, 
124,  140;  and  Lord  Elgin, 
133;    and  rebellion  losses, 

13s 
Dual  membership,  333 
Dufferin,    Marquis    of,    335, 

414 
Dunning,  John,  64 
Duration  of  parliament,  335 
Durham,  Earl  of,   112,   119, 

128,    132,    145,    146,    183; 

mission  of,  to  Canada,  95, 

96;      Report    of,    97-102; 

return  of,  to  England,  97; 

and     American     influence 

[520] 


on  Canada,  100;  and 
advantages  of  union,  102, 
103;  as  a  statesman, 
IIS 

East   India   Company,    119 
Economisty  The^  114 
Edgar,  J.  D.,  24  n,  54  n 
Edmonton,  17,  24 
Education  act  of  1863,  237 
Education,  in  British  North 

America  act,  236 
Egerton,  64  n,  74  «,  87 
Egerton    and    Grant,    121  n, 

122  n 
Election  petitions,  348 
Elections  act  of  19 17,  324  « 
Elections,    British,    expenses 

of,  340 
Elections,  corruption  in,  178; 
holding  of,  338;  procedure 
of>  339>  346;  expenses  of, 
340,  341,  348;  usages  at, 
340;  uncontested,  342; 
nomination  papers  for,  344; 
day  of,  347;  controverted, 
348 
Electoral  divisions,  settle- 
ment of,  310;  inequality 
of,  314,  315;  single-mem- 
ber, 316 
Electoral  franchise,  reform  of, 
demanded,  149;  left  to 
provinces,  309;  civil  ser- 
vants debarred  from,  320; 
civil  servants  admitted  to, 
323;  reforms  in,  324 


INDEX 


Electoral    reform    in     1856, 

161 
Electors,     qualifications     of, 

1791,  &T.,    manifestoes  to, 

339 
Elgin,  Earl  of,  iii,  145,  151, 
170,  179,  213;    as  a  states- 
man, 115,   146;    governor- 
general,  127, 132;  his  policy, 
128,  132,  138;    politics  of, 
129;    and   British  connec- 
tion,    131;      and     respon- 
sible government,  133,  248, 
252;     and   rebellion   losses 
bill,     134,     136;      demon- 
strations against,  139,  140; 
tenders    resignation,     141, 
142;  his  achievement,  146; 
and  use  of  French,  153,  154 
Elgin-Marcy  Treaty,  188, 432, 
447, 454,  456, 461, 466;  and 
British  G)lumbia,  55 
Ellenborough,  Earl  of,  120  w 
Enfranchisement  of  women, 
an  open  question,  376,  377; 
in  prairie  provinces,  376 
Episcopal  church,  and  clergy 

reserves,  71 
Established  church,  401 
Estimates,       prepared       by 
cabinet,  372,  373;  in  house 
of  commons,  418 
Excess  profits  tax,  416,  494 
Executive  councils,  H2 

Family   compacts,   72,    132, 
137,    147,    168,    177;    and 


corruption  m  government, 

83 
Farrer,  James  Anson,  414  n 
Federal  union,  inevitable,  178 
Federal  v.   legislative   union, 

217-221 
Fielding,  William  S.,  II,  445, 

447»  467 
Finance    bill,    415;     amend- 
ments to,  417;    debate  on, 

417 
Finance,  minister  of,  353 
Financial  centers  of  Canada, 

36 
Financial    year    of    Canada, 

378 
Financiers,  and  government, 

37 

Fiscal  freedom  of  colonies, 
17,442 

Fish,  and  reciprocity,  458 

Fish,  Hamilton,  454 

Fisheries,  and  United  States, 
460 

Fleming,  Sandford,  64  n 

Flour  exports,  470,  471 

Flour  milling,  470 

Flour  mills,  32 

Fort  Garry,  52 

Fort  William,  15,  19,  31, 
34,  40,  473»  475 

Forty  shilling  freehold  quali- 
fication, 328 

Foster,  G.  E.,  333 

France,  and  Canadian  tariffs, 

447 
Franchise,  dominion,  317 

C521] 


INDEX 


Franking  privilege,  279,  490 

Fredericton,  17 

Freedom  of  speech,  and 
closure,  423 

Freedom  of  the  press,  struggle 
for,  75 

Free  trade,  284;  adoption 
of,  by  Great  Britain,  147; 
and  concessions  to  Canada, 
164,  440 

French,  use  of  in  king's 
speech,  280;  use  of,  in 
parliament,  403 

French  Canada,  and  separate 
schools,  236;  and  places  in 
cabinet,  357;  and  the 
speakership  383;  and  di- 
vision of  offices,  384 

Frontenac,  317 

Galleries  in  house  of  com- 
mons, 393 

Gait,  Alexander,  TuUoch,  and 
right  of  tariff  making,  1 1, 
169;  and  friction  with 
British  government,  170; 
his  reply  to  Newcastle,  172; 
and  Confederation,  189, 
191,  209,  223 

Gait  tariff,  171-175,  398 

Gazette y  Canada,  253 

Gazette,  Montreal,  503 

George  III,  414 

George  IV,  414 

German  tariff  war,  435-444, 
and  peace  without  victory, 
446 
[522] 


Germany,  and  British  prefer- 
ence, 442,  443,  450 

Gerrymander,  in  Canada, 
310;  abolished  by  Liberals, 
312 

Gladstone,  W.  E.,  104,  333; 
and  rebellion  losses  bill, 
143;  and  corruption  in 
Canada,  259,  260 

Glengarry,  address  to  Elgin 
from,  141 

Globe,  of  Toronto,  423 

Gosford,  Lord,  95 

Governing  class  in  Canada, 
72;  in  Lower  Canada,  83 

Government  bills,  415,  420; 
in    provincial    legislatures, 

493 

Government  leader  in  senate, 
282 

Governor-general  of  Canada, 
as  Hnk  with  Great  Britain, 
5;  appointment  of  6,  162; 
at  Quebec,  in  1792,  76; 
powers  of,  81;  partisan, 
84;  can  dissolve  legis- 
lature, 124;  appointment 
of,  as  patronage,  128; 
and  reserved  bills,  157; 
payment  of  salary  of,  163; 
nomination  of,  215;  before 
and  after  Confederation, 
247;  in  British  North 
America  act,  251;  duties 
of,  254;  nonpartisan,  256; 
limitations  on  freedom  of, 
264;    suggestion  of  election 


INDEX 


of,  265;  and  dissolution 
of  parliament,  335;  and 
cabinet,  351,  373;  and 
convening  of  parliament, 
378;  and  election  of 
speaker,  385;  never  in 
house  of  commons,  393; 
and  speech  from  the  throne, 
402;  and  speaker  of  house 
of  commons,  420;  and 
disallowance  of  provincial 
legislation,  496 

Governor-in-council,  253;  and 
rights  of  minorities,  240 

Governors-general,  list  of, 
256 

Grain,    and    railroads,    473, 

474 

Grain  crop,  35 

Grain  growers,  and  American 
interests,  32;  organization 
of,  47;  and  agitation 
against  titles,  367;  and 
British  preference,  440; 
political  movements  of, 
441;  and  reciprocity,  457, 
460,  463;  and  Sir  W. 
Laurier,  463,  464 

Grain  Growers'  Guide ,  367  w, 
44in 

Grain  growing,  beyond  Great 
Lakes,  35;  increase  of,  44; 
importance  of,  45 

Grain  handling,  charges  for, 

34 
Grain    harvests,    and    pros- 
perity, 31 


Grand  Trunk  Pacific  Rail- 
way, 42,  so,  57 

Grand  Trunk  Railway,  34, 
36;    double     tracking     of, 

474 
Grants  to  railways,  473 
Granville,  Earl  of,  207  n 
Great  Britain,  and  Canadian 
taxation,  173;  and  Hudson 
Bay   Co.'s    territory,    186; 
welcomes      Confederation, 
186;    and  responsible  gov- 
ernment for  Canada,  261; 
denounces  treaties  for  sake 
of  Canada,  442;  and  Brit- 
ish preference,  447 
Great  Lakes,  14;   climate  on, 
19;    and  prairie  provinces, 
31;   warships  on,  187 
Grenville  act  of  1770,  349 
Grey,  third   earl,    136,    141, 
153,  256;  and  Elgin's  offer 
of  resignation,  142 
Grey,  Sir  George,  157 
Grey,    fourth   earl,    and    co- 
operation, 264 
Grits,  168 

Halifax,  17,  24,  33,  37,  43, 
I39>  163;  and  legislative 
assembly  of  1758,  64,  76, 
251 

Hamilton,  24,  45,  106,  150, 
167,  169 

Harpell,  James  J.,  42  n,  46  n 

Head,  Francis  Bond,  85,  92, 
122 

C523] 


INDEX 


Head,  Sir  Edward  Walker, 
governor-general,  170,  171, 
179,  252;  and  Confeder- 
ation, 190 

Herries,  J.  C,  143 

Hill,  printer,  75 

Hincks,  Francis,  177  n 

"Hiving  the  grits,"  311 

Holland,  trade  with,  471 

Homesteads,  479 

"Honorable,"  362 

House  of  Commons,  Domin- 
ion, and  money  bills,  250, 
409;  membership  of,  305; 
representation  of  provinces 
in,  305,  306;  and  election 
of  speaker,  385;  organi- 
zation of  new,  385;  seat- 
ing of  members  in,  390; 
rules  of,  400;  procedure 
in,  401,  402,  409,  410; 
quorum  of,  401;  atten- 
dance in,  401;  select  stand- 
ing committees  of,  407; 
and  supply,  418;  and 
obstruction,  421 

Howe,  Joseph,  75 

Hudson  Bay,  14,  474 

Hudson  Bay  Company,  16, 
24,  53;  and  the  Bridge, 
41;  and  immigration,  43; 
end  of  rule  of,  54;  territory 
of,  59;  Lower  Canada  and, 
185;  and  United  States, 
188;   and  crown  lands,  233 

Hume,  Joseph,  119 

Hustings,  327 

C524] 


Immigration,  27,  478;  into 
prairie  provinces,  43;  Do- 
minion rights  over,  216; 
Chinese,  234;  legislation 
concerning,  234;  propa- 
ganda, 235,  473;  expendi- 
tures on,  and  corruption, 
258;  and  National  Policy, 
430;  and  British  prefer- 
ence, 451;  polyglot,  478; 
and  Ontario,  481 

Immigration  and  coloniza- 
tion, minister  of,  354 

Indemnities,  for  members 
of  parliament,  279 

Independent  political  move- 
ments, 480 

India,  59 

Industries  of  United  Kingdom 
and  Canadian  tariffs,  175 

Ineligibility    for    parliament, 

334 
Inland  revenue  duties,  416 
Inland   revenue,  minister  of, 

354,363 

Institute  of  chartered  accoun- 
tants, 497 

Intercolonial    Railway,    259, 

299,  359,  471 
Interior,    minister    of,    354; 

from  prairie  provinces,  359 
Intermediate  tariff,  437 
Irish  Nationalist  party,  343 
Iron  and  steel  bounties,  258 
Iron  and  steel  manufacture, 

29;    in   Sydney,   45;    and 

National  Policy,  469,  470 


INDEX 


Italy,  and  British  preference, 
442,  449 

Jamaica,  119,  127 
Japan,  trade  with,  471 
Johnson,  President,  202,  205 
Journals  of  parliament,  401 
Judges,  appointment  of,  498, 

499 
Judicial  committee  of  privy 
council,  495;    and  separate 
schools  question,  245 
Judiciary  of  Canada,   499 
Justice,  minister  of,  354 

Kamloops,  50 
Kenny,  Edward,  358 
Kenora,  38,  41,  50,  471 
"  Kingdom  of  Canada,"  200, 

205 
Kingston,  24,   35,    106,   113, 

120, 163 
Knighthoods,   72,   365,    366, 

369 

Labor  and  socialist  parties, 
480;  and  elections,  345;  in 
provincial  legislatures,  488 
Labor  candidates,  343 
Labor,  minister  of,  354 
Labouchere,  Henry,  113;  co- 
lonial secretary,  190 
Lafontaine,  Louis  Hyppolite, 

117,  120,  123,  251 
Lafontaine- Baldwin    govern- 
ment,  123,  124,   133,   13s, 
136,  140 


Lake  Erie,  35 

Lake  navigation  and  United 

States,  33 
Lake  of  the  Woods,  38 
Lake  Superior,  34,  44 
Lansdowne,  Marquis  of,  256, 

443 

Lash,  414  n 

Laurier,  Sir  Wilfred,  11,  297, 
310,333,363;  and  separate 
schools,  244;  and  redistri- 
bution, 307,  315;  and  end 
of  gerrymandering,  313; 
and  cabinet,  360;  and  the 
grain  growers,  463 

Laurier  government  150  n; 
repeals  Dominion  franchise 
act,  323;  and  electoral 
reform,  324;  and  reci- 
procity with  United  States, 
336,  396,  456,  461,  462; 
and  obstruction,  421,  422; 
defeat  of,  465 

Lawyers,     and     parliament, 

331 
Legislative  assembly,  Quebec, 

76;     made    bilingual,    80; 

limitations     of,     81,     85; 

refused  to  vote  supplies,  93 
Legislative  assembly.  Upper 

Canada,   powerlessness  of, 

85 
Legislative   council,   Quebec, 

76;    power  of,  81;    bishops 

and  judges  in,  85 
Legislative     council.    United 

Provinces,  demand  for  elec- 


INDEX 


tion  of,  150,  158;  New- 
castle and,  160;  members 
of,  elected,  161,  267;  num- 
ber of  members  of,  162 

Legislative  councilors,  salaries 
of,  486 

Legislative  councils,  disap- 
pearance of,  484;  member- 
ship of,  485 

Legislative  union  of  1840, 
104;  debates  at  West- 
minister on,  105;  consti- 
tution of,  106 

Legislature  of  United  Prov- 
inces, constitution  of,  107; 
bilingual,  108 

Legislatures,  early,  76;  con- 
stitution and  procedure  of, 
77,  400;  limitations  of 
80;   bicameral,  484 

Lemieux,  Rodolphe,  424 

Le  Pas,  Manitoba,  14,  474 

Lewis,  George  Cornewall,  87 

Liberal-Conservatives,  168, 
284 

Liberal  convention  of  1859, 

19s 

Liberals,  343;  after  Con- 
federation, 284;  and  the 
senate,  288,  302;  and  the 
gerrymander,  312;  and 
electoral  franchise,  320; 
and  Dominion  franchise 
act  of  1885,  322;  and 
electoral  reform,  324;  and 
the  tariff,  398,  417,  434 

Lieutenant-governors,         as 

[526] 


links  with  Great  Britain,  5; 

appointment  of,  6,  253, 
483;  and  resignation  of 
premier,  488;  salaries  of, 
491;  terms  of,  491;  non- 
partisan,   491;     duties   of, 

492,  493 
Links  of  empire,  364, 434, 492 
Lisgar,  Lord,  314 
London,  0.,  106 
Lord  Chancellor,  280 
Lome,    Marquis    of,    128  n, 

255,  414 

Lower  Canada,  (fjy  74;  and 
constitutional  development, 
75;  legislature  of,  in  1792, 
79;  and  import  duties,  81; 
corruption  in  government 
of,  82;  and  governing  class, 
83;  population  of,  in  1838, 
loi;  and  disputes  with 
Upper  Canada,  102;  repre- 
sentation of,  106;  con- 
cession to,  in  1848,  152; 
overrepresentation  of,   184 

"Loyalist,"  75 

Lucas,  Sir  C.  P.,  on  crown 
colonies,  7  n,  82  n;  on 
Durham,  115 

Lumber,  and  reciprocity,  457 

Lytton,  Bulwer,  colonial  sec- 
retary, 191 

Macdonald,  Baroness,  first 
Canadian  peer,  73  n 

Macdonald  government,  362, 
431;   and  Canadian  Pacific 


INDEX 


Railroad      scandal,      260; 
members  of,  352 
Macdonald,  Senator,  278  n 
Macdonald,  Sir  John  A.,  11, 
297>    332,    336,    363,   424; 
and     Confederation,     200, 
209,    216,    223,    225;     and 
electoral    franchises,    318, 
320,    323;     and    National 
Policy,  432,  433,  466;    and 
reciprocity,  458 
Mace,  the,  381,  384,  391 
McGee,  Thomas  Darcy,  209 
Mackenzie,    Alexander,    297, 

335.  336,  363,  412,  414 
Mackenzie  government,  453 
Mackenzie,     William     Lyon, 
rebellion    of,    10,    89,    94, 
122,  138,  145,  269;    life  of, 
91,  92,  93;     amnestied,  94 
McKinley  tariff,  466,  467 
MacLeans  Magazine,  367  n 
Magdalen  Islands,  486 
Magna  Charta,  as  advertise- 
ment, 449 
Mails,  416 

Maine,    and    Confederation, 
201;     resolutions    against, 
from,  202 
Maisonneuve,  314 
Manhood  suffrage,  325 
Manitoba,    14,   31,   41,    186, 
188,  212,  297,  474;  created 
a  province,  16;   climate  of, 
18;    and  crown  lands,  56; 
and     divorce,     166;      and 
federal    union,    217;     and 


separate  schools,  239; 
representation  of,  in  house 
of  commons,  305;  and 
the  cabinet,  358;  and 
enfranchisement  of  women, 
376;  and  British  prefer- 
ence, 440;  and  bicameral 
system,  484;  scandals  in, 
502 
Manitoba     school     question, 

243,  374 

Manufacturers,  British,  pro- 
tests of,  171 

Manufacturers,  Canadian, 
and  protection,  30,  170, 
437;  and  the  preference, 
435,  452;  and  British 
trade,  438;  more  protec- 
tion for,  440,  467;  and 
reciprocity,  457,  461 

Manufacturing  in  Canada, 
29;  first  impulse  towards, 
27;  influenced  by  United 
States,  28;  and  National 
Policy,  469 

Marine  and  fisheries,  minis- 
ter of,  354 

Maritime  Provinces,  climate 
of,  18;  and  union,  21,  219; 
economic  interests  of,  22; 
immigration  into,  27;  and 
crown  lands,  56;  and  union 
in  1864,  74,  198;  and 
Confederation,  180;  union 
of,  urged  by  Moore,  182; 
and  overtures  for  Con- 
federation, 195;    and  jeal- 


INDEX 


ousy  of  United  Provinces, 
'283;  divorce  courts  in, 
287;  and  exclusion  of 
civil  servants  from  fran- 
chise, 320;  and  protection, 
432 

Marriage,  power  over,  230, 
232 

Melbourne  administration,95; 
and  Lord  Durham,  97 

Member  of  house  of  com- 
mons, resignation  of,  349; 
attendance  of,  401;  oppor- 
tunities of,  425 

Merritt,  of  Lincoln,  183 

Metcalfe,  Sir  C.  T.,  118,  124, 
128,  153,  252;  life  of,  119; 
policy  of,  120,  121,  126; 
and  election  of  1844,  125 

Metcalfe     commission,     134, 

13s 
Michigan,  Lake,  15,  163,  164 
Mileage  allowances,  279 
Militia  and  defense,  minister 

of,  354 
Mines,  minister  of,  354 
Minister    of    finance,     353; 
his    statement    to    parlia- 
ment, 415 
Minister  of  public  works,  353 
Minister    of    railways     and 
canals,    353;     from    New 
Brunswick,  358 
Minister  of  trade  and  com- 
merce, 353 
Ministers   without    portfolio, 
361,  390 

[528] 


Minorities,  safeguards  for,  240 
Minto,  Earl  of,  256 
Molesworth,  Sir  William,  156  n 
Monck,   Viscount,   governor- 
general,     179,     252;      and 
Confederation,  208 
Moncton,  42,  359 
Money    bills,    originating   in 
lower  house,  136;   in  legis- 
lature,   249;     and    senate, 
286;   and  the  cabinet,  373; 
procedure  on,  409 
Montgomery's  tavern,  94 
Montreal,  24,  26,  33,  34,  37, 
79,  106,  132,  150,  167,  360; 
as     financial    center,    36; 
population    of,    45;     and 
governing   class    72;     bad 
municipal   government  in, 
500 
Moore,  Colonel,  182 
Move  to  reduce  salary,  361 
Mowat,  Oliver,  209,  290 
Mulock,  Sir  William,  311  n 
Municipal    code    for   United 

Provinces,  109 
Municipal  elections,  346 
Municipal  government,  500 
Municipal  ownership,  in  prai- 
rie provinces,  48 
Municipalities,    and    Act    of 

Union,  109 
Munro-Ferguson,  114 
Musgrave,  General,  5671 

Natal,   a   crown   colony  to 
i893»  3 


INDEX 


National  debt  of  Great 
Britain,  and  dominions,  4 

National  grain  route,  19, 
430;  improvements  to,  35, 
36 

National  Policy,  169,  457, 
463,  466;  definition  of, 
430;  beginnings  of,  431, 
434;  and  McKinley  tariff, 
466;  results  of,  469,  477, 
479;  and  industries,  479; 
and  farmers,  479,  481; 
and  high  cost  of  living, 
481 

National  Policy  tariffs,  432 

National  Transcontinental 
Railway,  42 

Navigation  laws,  162,  163; 
right  to  make,  215 

Navigation  laws.  United 
States,  33 

Navy,  British,  and  Canada, 
163 

Navy  Island,  Niagara  River, 

94 

Nelson,  B.  C,  50 

New  Brunswick,  manufactur- 
ing in,  29;  and  crown 
lands,  56;  government  es- 
tablished in,  66;  and  politi- 
cal demands  of  United 
Empire  Loyalists,  (^\  and 
constitutional  development, 
74;  and  hemp  bounties, 
174;  adopts  Confederation 
resolutions,  200;  and  Con- 
federation, 211;    and  sepa- 


rate schools,  241;  and  the 
senate,  270;  representation 
of,  in  house  of  commons, 
305;  and  the  cabinet,  358; 
and  iron  industry,  470; 
and  bicameral  system,  484; 
and  separate  schools,  498; 
scandals  in,  502 

Newcastle,  Duke  of,  161, 
170,  292;  and  colonies, 
130;  colonial  secretary, 
155;  and  Canadian  re- 
forms, 158,  159;  and  pro- 
tection, 171;  and  tariff  of 
1859,  174,  176 

Newfoundland,  59,  213;  and 
protection,  4;  area  of, 
13;  population  of,  in  1783, 
60;  and  Confederation, 
275;     and    fiscal    freedom, 

443 

New  Glasgow,  477 

Newport  News,  35 

New  South  Wales,  61;  and 
responsible  government, 
145;   and  protection,  176 

Newspaper  organs,  393,  395; 
and  reciprocity  in  191 1, 
396 

Newspaper  press,  262;  and 
the  senate,  291 

Newspapers,  political  rewards 
for,  394;  and  reporting  of 
parliament,  399;  and  criti- 
cism, 429 

New  Westminster,  50,  57 

New  York,  35 

C529] 


INDEX 


New  Zealand,  59,  146,  166; 
and  the  British  connection, 
129;  and  responsible  gov- 
ernment, 145;  and  pro- 
tection 176;  and  fiscal 
freedom,  443;  and  British 
preference,  448 

Niagara,  75,  106;  and  meet- 
ing of  legislature  of  Upper 
Canada  78 

Nomination  papers,  344 

Nordegg,  42 

North  Bay,  Ontario,  38 

North,  Lord,  63 

North  Sydney,  45 

Northwest  Territory,  16 

Norway,  trade  with,  471 

Nova  Scotia,  327,  371,  430; 
climate  of,  19;  manufac- 
turing in,  29;  and  crown 
lands,  56;  and  United 
Empire  Loyalists,  63;  gov- 
ernment of,  in  1758,  64; 
and  constitutional  develop- 
ment, 74;  and  tariffs  of 
United  Provinces,  175;  and 
Confederation  resolutions, 
200;  and  Confederation, 
211;  and  separate  schools, 
241;  and  the  senate,  270; 
representation  of,  in  house 
of  commons,  305;  fran- 
chise in,  325;  and  plural 
voters,  329;  and  coal,  433; 
and  iron  industry,  470; 
and  manufacturing,  471; 
bicameral     legislature    of, 

C530] 


484,    485;     and    separate 
schools,     498;      municipal 
government  in,  501 
Nova  ScotiaUf  75 

Oaths,  of  members  of  parlia- 
ment, 379 

Obstruction  in  house  of  com- 
mons, 421-423,  462 

Ogdensburg,  33 

Ontario,  213,  430;  climate  of, 
18;  economic  interests  of, 
22;  antagonism  of,  to 
Quebec,  23;  and  manufac- 
turing, 26;  and  immigra- 
tion, 27;  and  protection, 
30;  and  prairie  prov- 
inces, 31;  and  crown 
lands,  56;  and  divorce, 
166;  and  Confederation, 
211;  and  separate  schools, 
236;  and  the  senate,  270; 
and  divorce  bills,  287; 
representation  of,  in  house 
of  commons,  305;  and 
the  cabinet,  357;  and 
wheat,  433;  and  British 
preference,  440;  and  manu- 
facturing, 471;  abandons 
bicameral  system,  484;  gov- 
ernment of,  489;  municipal 
government  in,  501 

Open  questions,  376 

Opposition  leader,  352;  elec- 
tion of,  386;  salary  of, 
387,  388 

Orders-in-council,  254,  372 


INDEX 


Ottawa,  23,  139,  283;  foun- 
dation of,  24 

Pakington,  Sir  John,  156 

Palmerston,  Lord,  113,  130 

Palmerston-Russell  adminis- 
tration, 170 

Papineau,  Louis  Joseph,  re- 
bellion of,  10,  86,  93,  117, 
153,  269;  life  of,  89,  90; 
success  of,  95,  145;  return 
of,  137  n 

Parliament,  British,  and  re- 
bellion losses  bill,  144 

Parliament,  Dominion,  and 
creation  of  provinces,  16; 
and  divorce,  166;  as  con- 
tinuation of  United  Prov- 
inces legislature,  284;  and 
electoral  divisions,  3 10; 
duration  of,  335;  time  of 
assembling  of,  378 

Parliamentary  candidates  in 
United  Kingdom,  Cana- 
dians as,  330 

Parliamentary  reform,  move- 
ment for,  in  England,  91 

Parliamentary        secretaries, 

3S4»  363 
Party  conventions,  339 
Party  lines  in  Canada,  263; 

after  Confederation,  284 
Party  names  in  Canada,  148  n 
Patronage  of  the  crown,  163, 
267,  295;  and  revision  of 
electoral  rolls,  321;  titles 
as,  366;    and  independent 


political   movements,   480; 

and  legislative  councils,  485 
Patrons  of  Industry,  343,  480, 

481 
Payne- Aid  rich  tariff,  461 
Payne,  Sereno  E.,  450 
Peel,   Sir    R.,    87,    104,    117, 

143,  IS3 

Peerages,  73,  365-370 

Pensions  for  ex-cabinet  minis- 
ters, 389 

Pensions  for  government  offi- 
cials, abolition  of,  de- 
manded, 150 

Philadelphia,  35 

Pitt,  69,  71 

Plural  office  holders,  85 

Plural  voter,  in  Canada,  328 

Political  parties,  not  recog- 
nized by  law,  346 

Politics,  popular  interest  in, 

399 
Pontiac,  317 
Population  of  Canada,  305; 

and  railway  mileage,  473; 

slow  increase,  of  477,  479 
Pork  barrel,  in  Canada,  85 
Port  Arthur,  15,  19,  34,  40, 

4i>  475 
Port  Jackson,  61 
Portland,  32*  33>  43 
Port  Nelson,  14,  474 
Port  Roseway,  63 
Postmaster  general,  354 
Prairie     provinces,     29,     30; 
and  Ontario  and  Quebec, 
31,  45;    and  immigration, 

[531] 


INDEX 


43;  crops  of,  44;  and  the 
tariff,  45;  politics  of,  48; 
parliamentary  represen- 
tation of,  49;  forward 
policies  of,  218;  railway 
lands  in,  473 

Preferential  tariff  for  United 
Kingdom,  434,  see  British 
preference 

Premier,  and  cabinet,  351, 
3SS-3S7.  359;  and  con- 
ferring of  titles,  365;  and 
legislation,  420 

Premier,  British,  and  for- 
mation of  cabinet,  355 

President  of  council,  352 

Press  gallery,  in  house  of 
commons,  39;  and  prefer- 
ment, 397 

Press  gallery,  in  senate,  291 

Prices  in  Canada,  41;  of 
grain,  45 

Prime  minister,  see   Premier 

Primogeniture,  abolition  of, 
demanded,  149 

Prince  Edward  Island,  31, 
305,  327;  and  crown  lands, 
56;  and  United  Empire 
Loyalists,  63;  and  fish 
bounties,  174;  and  Con- 
federation, 211;  and  sepa- 
rate schools,  241,  498;  and 
the  senate,  270;  and  the 
cabinet,  358;  and  single- 
chamber  legislature,  485 ; 
municipal  government  in, 
SOI 
C532] 


Prince  Rupert,  42,  50,  57 

Private  bills,  415;  definition 
of,  428;  in  provincial 
legislatures,  499 

Private  members'  bills,  415; 
definition  of,  428;  in  pro- 
vincial legislatures,  493 

Privilege,    question    of,   427, 

429 
Privy  council  at  Whitehall, 

Canadian  members  of,  363 
Privy    council    for    Canada, 

251,    338,    361,    364,    371; 

members  of,  in  parliament, 

390 

Procedure  of  house  of  com- 
mons, 401,  402,  409,  410 

Procedure  of  senate,  284,  285 

Progressive  Republican 

party,  434 

Property  qualifications,  abo- 
lition of,  demanded,  149, 
158 

Protection  in  Canada,  and 
United  States,  28,  30; 
movement  for,  167,  168; 
adopted  by  Liberals,  395; 
and  National  Policy,  430, 
431;  and  British  prefer- 
ence, 438;  increases  in,  440; 
and  high  cost  of  living,  482 

Protective  tariff,  demand  for, 
151;  Liberal  opposition  to, 
394;  as  dividing  line  in 
politics,  398;  before  Na- 
tional Policy,  431;  Domin- 
ion committed  to,  434 


INDEX 


Protectorates,  and  colonial 
office,  I 

Provinces,  North  American, 
i6;  area  of,  17;  represen- 
tation of,  17,  272 

Provinces,  power  to  create, 
212;  and  representation  in 
house  of  commons,  309; 
and  electoral  franchises, 
3".  318 

Provincial  governments,  and 
grants  to  railways,  473; 
and  advertising,  478;  defi- 
nition of,  483;  dependent 
on  parliamentary  majority, 
488;  formation  of,  489; 
salaries  of  ministers  in, 
490;  revenues  of,  493 

Provincial  legislatures,  pow- 
ers of,  231;  members,  of, 
and  Dominion  cabinet, 
356;  membership  of,  486; 
salaries  of  members  of, 
487;  terms  of,  487;  party 
lines  in,  488;  procedure  in, 
492;  powers  of,  494;  checks 
on,  494 

Public  Advertiser,  75 

Public  opinion  in  Canada, 
262 

Public   works,     minister    of, 

353 
Puget  Sound,  50 

Qualifications,  for  mem- 
bers of  legislative  council, 
j6i;    for  voters,  319,  325, 


327;  disappearance  of,  328; 
for  members  of  house  of 
commons,  329 

Quebec,  economic  interests 
of,  22;  antagonism  of,  to 
Ontario,  23;  manufactur- 
ing in,  26;  rural  economy, 
of,  26;  and  immigration, 
27;  and  prairie  provinces, 
31;  and  crown  lands,  56; 
and  United  Empire  Loyal- 
ists, 63;  and  constitution 
of  1774,  64;  and  divorce, 
166;  and  Confederation, 
211;  and  legislative  union, 
220;  and  separate  schools, 
236,  240;  and  the  senate, 
270;  representation  of,  in 
house  of  commons,  305; 
and  redistribution,  308; 
and  electoral  franchise,  326; 
and  plural  voters,  329; 
and  the  cabinet,  357;  and 
iron  and  steel  bounties, 
430;  and  the  iron  industry, 
470;  and  manufacturing, 
471;  bicameral  legislature 
of,  484,  485 

Quebec  act  of  1791,  69,  82; 
and  number  of  provinces,  74 

Quebec  City,  17,  24,  106,  139, 
163;  legislature  meets  at, 
in  1792,  79 

Quebec  convention,  199;  in- 
dependence of,  208;  con- 
stitution of,  209;  and 
distribution  of  powers,  224 

[533] 


INDEX 


Queen  Anne,  414 

Queen  Victoria,  88,  96;  and 
Canada,  24;  and  colonial 
governors,  113;  and  Sir 
Charles  Bagot,  118;  and 
Sir  C.  T.  Metcalfe,  125; 
and  Lord  Elgin,  127 

Questions  in  Parliament,  426 

Quorum  of  house  of  commons, 
401 

Rails,  steel,  470 

Railway  building,  471,  473 

Railways  and  canals,  minister 
of,  353 

Railways,  and  corruption,  258; 
and  government  grants,  473, 
494;  mileage  of,  473,  475 

Readings  of  bills,  410,  411 

Rebellion  losses  bill,  134, 
138,  139;  and  British 
parliament,  144 

Reciprocity  with  United 
States,  163,  174,  395,  398; 
endangered  by  Gait  tariff, 
174,  175;  denunciation  of 
treaty  of,  187;  in  191 1,  336, 
396;  and  obstruction,  421; 
in  National  Policy,  430, 
431,  432;  movements  for, 
4S4>  455,  459;  and  Cana- 
dian tariffs,  455;  over- 
tures for,  from  Canada, 
456,  459;  overtures  for, 
from  United  States,  461; 
opposition  to,  in  191 1,  462; 
in  wheat  and  flour,  467 

[534] 


Red  chamber,  280 
Redistribution  act    of    1882, 

310,  341 
Redistribution    act   of   1914, 

18 
Redistribution,  after  census, 

306,    307,    309;     principle 

of,  308;    in  1903,  312;    in 

1914,  314 
Reforms,     demand     for,     in 

Upper    Canada,    148-15 1; 

and     British     parliament, 

160 
Regal  chair,  255 
Regina,  Sask.,  17,  26 
Registrars  of  deeds,  ineligible 

to  parliament,  334 
Reporting   of  parliamentary 

debates,  397 
Reserved  bills,  157,  214 
Residential   qualification   for 

members     of     parliament, 

330,  332 

Resolutions,  preceding  bills, 
415,  416 

Responsible  government,  de- 
fined, 2;  development  of, 
9;  granted  to  dominions, 
12;  granting  of,  in,  163; 
and  Sir  C.  Bagot,  118; 
and  Sir  C.  T.  Metcalfe,  120; 
and  Robert  Baldwin,  124; 
in  United  Provinces,  127; 
and  Elgin,  133,  139;  on 
trial,  142;  and  Earl  Rus- 
sell, 144;  extended  in  1850, 
145;    conceded  to  United 


INDEX 


Provinces,  164;  or  military 
rule,  176;  definition  of, 
248;  based  on  usage,  249; 
and  corruption,  259;  and 
Canadian  leadership,  260; 
and  people  of  Canada, 
261;  from  1840,  487;  in 
provinces,  495 

Retaliation,  against  Gei> 
many,  445 

Returning  officers,  339,  342, 

348 
Revelstoke,  B.  C,  50 
Rhodes,  Edgar,  381  « 
Riddell,  Justice,  65  n,  (i^  n,  71 

«,  261  n,  409  n,  414  n\  on 

United     States     Supreme 

Court,  499 
Ridings,  county  divisions,  316 
Robertson,    Senator    J.    E., 

27871 
Robinson,  Sir  John  Beverley, 

first    Canadian       baronet, 

73  n 
Roebuck,  J.  A.,  116,  119,  207 
Roll  call  of  house  of  commons, 

401 
Roman  Catholic  church,  and 

Quebec      constitution      of 

1774,    65;     and    American 

Revolution,  65 
Roman  Catholics,  as  electors, 

69;    and  separate  schools, 

236,    240,    244,    24s,    497; 

in    Canada   in    1867,    238; 

and  the  cabinet,   358 
Rose,  attorney-general,  168 


Rossland,  B.  C,  50 
Rouges,  Liberals,  148 
Royal  assent,  412,  419 
Royal  commission,  429 
Royalties,  mining,  416,  494 
Russell,     Lord     John,     104; 
and  Act  of  Union  of  1840, 
no;    and    Earl  of  Elgin, 
127;    and   rebellion  losses 
bill,  143;    and  responsible 
government,  145;  and  Con- 
federation, 221 
Russell  administration,  136 

St.  Denis,  94 
St.  John,  24,  33,  43 
St.  John  River,  66 
St.  Lawrence,   14,  460;    and 
development    of    Canada, 

15 
St.  Lawrence  canals,  36,  147, 

151.  475 
St.    Lawrence   ship    channel, 

36,  475 
St.  Michael  and  St.  George, 

order  of,  363 
Salisbury,   Marquis  of,   333, 

443 

San  Francisco,  187 

Saskatchewan,  14,  31,  41, 
186,  188,  212,  474;  created 
a  province,  16;  climate  of, 
18;  and  crown  lands,  56; 
and  divorce,  166;  and 
federal  union,  217;  and 
separate  schools,  239,  243, 
374;    and  the  senate,  270; 

[535] 


INDEX 


representation  of,  in  house 
of  commons,  305,  309; 
and  the  cabinet,  358;  and 
enfranchisement  of  women, 
376;  and  British  prefer- 
ence, 440;  and  single- 
chamber  legislature,  485 

Saskatoon,  44 

Sault  Ste.  Marie,  canal  locks 
at,  35;  and  steel  rails, 
470,  475 

Scandals  at  Ottawa,  257,  258; 
in  municipal  government, 
502 

Schools,  in  Upper  Canada 
in  1867,  237 

Schools,  separate,  see  Sepa- 
rate schools 

Scotch  immigration,  27 

Second  chambers  in  Canada, 
289,  292,  303 

Secretary  of  state,  354 

Secretary  of  state  for  external 
affairs,  352 

Sectarian  schools,  236 

Select  standing  committees 
of  house  of  commons,  407; 
powers  of,  408 

Senate,  Dominion,  267;  and 
elective  principle,  268;  and 
money  bills,  269;  appoint- 
ment to,  as  patronage,  270, 
293 >  29s;  use  of,  272,  303; 
bills  rejected  by,  272,  299; 
an  independent  body,  277; 
seating  of  members  of, 
281;   and  the  cabinet,  282; 

C536] 


procedure  in,  284;  divorce 
bills  in,  284,  286,  303;  and 
tariff  legislation,  286;  num- 
ber of  bills  in,  286;  as 
revising  chamber,  288;  its 
place  in  Canada,  289; 
agitation  against,  291;  no 
office  holders  in,  292;  and 
house  of  commons,  296; 
first  appointments  to,  297; 
adverse  majorities  in,  297; 
docility  of,  299;  vacancies 
in,  300;  applicants  for,  300, 
301;  party  service  by,  303; 
and  speech  from  throne, 
402;    and  finance  bills,  418      . 

Senatorial  divisions  of  Que-     I 
bee,  268,  270,  271  * 

Senators,  qualifications  of, 
267;  number  of,  273,  275; 
appointments  of,  to  break 
deadlock,  275;  tenure  of, 
276,  277;  resignation  of, 
278;  vacation  of  seat 
of,  278;  payments  to,  278; 
age  of,  294;  periods  of 
vigilance  of,  298 

Separate    schools,    236,   244, 

245»  374.  497 
Sergeant  at  arms,  280,  378, 

383,384 

Sheep  industry,  44 

Sheffield,  171 

Sherbrooke,  106 

Sheriffs,  ineligible  to  parlia- 
ment, 334;  and  elections, 
337 


INDEX 


Shipbuilding  in  Canada,  35, 

477 
Sifton,    minster    of   interior, 

374 

Simcoe,  John  Graves,  78  n 

"Six  months'  hoist,"  410 

Slavery  forbidden  in  Upper 
Canada,  78 

Smith,  Goldwin,  262  n 

Soap,  duties  on,  168 

Socialist  movements,  480 

Solicitor-general,  354,  363 

Sorel,  Quebec,  79 

Soulanges,  314 

South  Africa,  Union  of,  443, 
448 

Southampton,  129 

South  Australia,  and  pro- 
tection, 177 

Speaker,  British,  379 

Speaker  of  house  of  commons, 
378*  379;  choice  of,  380; 
duty  of,  382;  patronage 
of,  382;  election  of,  384; 
and  governor-general,  420 

Speaker  of  house  of  repre- 
sentatives, 380 

Speaker  of  legislative  council, 
158 

Speaker  of  senate,  280,  295 

Speakerships,  as  spoils,  295 

Spectator,  The,  Hamilton,  168 

Speech  from  the  throne,  284, 
402 

Speeches,  time  limit  for,  403, 
422 

Spoils,  political,  295,  296 


Stagesof  bills,  411 

Stanley,  Lord,  Earl  of  Derby, 

104,  121,  126,  205,  256 
State     church,     attempt    to 

establish,  70 
State  departments,  363 
Stickene  River,  299 
Stimson,  71  n,  105  n 
Stony  Plain,  42 
Strathcona,  Lord,  439  « 
Strong,  Sir  Henry,  215 
Stuart,  John,  165  n 
Subsidies  to  railways,  494 
Subventions  to  provinces,  493 
Sudbury,  Ontario,  40 
Supplies,  voting  of,  415 
Surtax,  German,  446 
Sword,  girding  with,  328 
Sydenham,    Lord,    97,    iii, 

112,    119,    120,    128,    145, 

179,    248;     life    of,     113; 

character  of,  115 
Sydney,  N.  S.,  45,  175,  436; 

and  steel  rails,  470 
Sydney,  New  South    Wales, 

61 

Tache-Macdonald     govern- 
ment, 197 
Taft,  William  H.,  225  n,  461 
Tariff,  dividing  line  in  poli- 
tics, 47;   schedules  of,  436; 
and    commercial    treaties, 

447 
Tariff  duties  in  Canada,  109, 
150,   162;    right  to  enact, 
165,  166;  rates  of,  in  1856, 

C537] 


INDEX 


167;    and  reciprocity  with 

United  States,  455 
Tariff  for  revenue  only,  417 
Tariff  of  1870,  432;    discon- 
tent with,  433 
Tariff   policy    of    Dominion, 

37;     enunciated    by    Gait, 

172 
Tariff  preferences,  4 
Taxation,  imposing  of,  415; 

resolutions  for,  415,  416 
Teslin  Lake,  299 
Textile  industry,  37 
Thomson,       Poulett,      Lord 

Sydenham,  97 
Thompson,  premier,  363 
Thornton,    British    minister, 

454 
Three  Rivers,  26,  79,  106 
Tilley,  Samuel  Leonard,  209 
Titles,  new  attitude  towards, 
365;     bargains    for,    366; 
agitation      against,      367; 
minute  of  council  against, 
368 
Toronto,  17,  24,  37,  106,  123, 
150,  167,  360;    as  financial 
center,  36;    population  of, 
45;     and   governing   class, 
72;     became    capital,    75; 
as  capital,  489 
Toronto  East,  316 
Toronto  West,  3 16 
Toryism  in  Canada,  84 
Townshend,  Thomas,  64 
Trade  and  commerce,  minis- 
ter of,  353 

C538] 


Transport  policy  of  Do- 
minion, 37 

Transport  system  of  central 
Canada,  29 

Treasury  bench,  392 

Treaties,  British,  and  Do- 
minion of  Canada,  215, 
442 

Treaties,  commercial,  ap- 
pointment of  plenipoten- 
tiaries for,  10;  and  British 
preference,  442 

Tupper,  Sir  Charles,  11,  198, 
332,  363,  458  n;  and  Con- 
federation, 209,  226;  and 
separate  schools,  245 

Two  Mountains,  317 

Two-party  system,  343 

Underwood-Simmons  tariff, 
467 

Union  of  Quebec  and  On- 
tario, 10 

United  Empire  Loyalists, 
61,  168;  exodus  of,  from 
United  States,  62;  settle- 
ment of,  in  Canada,  63; 
and  Quebec  constitution, 
64;  and  New  Brunswick, 
66;  and  Family  Compacts, 
72;    and  United  States,  84 

United  Farmers  of  Ontario, 
480 

United  Provinces,  constitu- 
tion of,  105;  legislature  of, 
106,  112,  154;  political 
civilization   of,    146;     and 


INDEX 


tariff  laws,  147;  develop- 
ment of,  147;  and  British 
cabinet,  152;  and  clergy 
reserves,  156;  and  amend- 
ments to  constitution,  157- 
159;  concessions  to,  163; 
rights  assumed  by,  164; 
protection  in,  168, 432;  and 
Confederation,  180;  dead- 
lock in,  189;  and  sugges- 
tions for  Confederation, 
195;  instability  in,  197; 
adopt  Confederation  reso- 
lutions, 200;  dominant  in 
Dominion  parliament,  283 

United  States  constitution, 
compared  with  British 
North  America  act,  227 

United  States,  influence  on 
Canada,  9,  166,  180,  465, 
467;  between  1820  and 
1837,  83;  in  1838,  99; 
and  protection  in  Canada, 
169,465;  equality  of  treat- 
ment of,  177;  opposition 
of,  to  Confederation,  200; 
mistakes  of,  emphasized, 
224;  and  British  prefer- 
ence, 449,  450;  and  reci- 
procity, 454,  455 

United  States  supreme  court, 

499 
University  representation  in 

Canada,  315  n 
Upper  Canada,  74;    created 

in  1 79 1,  67;   constitutional 

contribution   of,   75;     and 


British  law,  78;  and  In»- 
port  duties,  81;  corruption 
in  government  of,  82; 
population  of,  in  1838, 
loi;  and  disputes  with 
Lower  Canada,  102;  repre- 
sentation of,  106;  political 
development  of,  147;  re- 
formers of,  148;  discontent 
with  representation  of,  183; 
and  defense  of  northwest 
provinces,  188 
Upper  chambers,  74 

Vancouver,  24,  51,  57 

Vancouver  Island,  description 
of,  49,  50;   history  of,  54 

Van  Dieman's  Land,  61; 
and  responsible  govern- 
ment, 145 

Veto  power,  414,  495 

Victoria,  17,  24;  description 
of>  49~Si;  and  protection, 
176 

Wages,  of  members  of  parlia- 
ment, 69 

Wages,  of  senators,  278 

Wallace,  62  n 

Ways  and  means,  committee 
on,  415 

Weaver,  Emily,  64  n 

Welland  canal,  35,   147,  151, 

475 
Wellington,  Duke  of,  87,  104, 
143;     and    Sir    C.    Bagot, 
117;  maxim  of,  265 

C539] 


INDEX 


West     Australia,     a     crown 

colony,  to  1890,  3 
West     IndieS;     and     British 

preference,  448 
Wheat  growing  in  Ontario, 

433 
Whigs,    and    Canadian   con- 
stitution of  1774,  64 
Whips,  party,  401,  402,  429 
Whitemouth,  Manitoba,  42 
Whitney  administration,  490 
Wilberforce,  156 
William  IV,  and  colonies,  95 
Willson,  Beckles,  439  n 
Wilson,  James,  113 
Winnipeg,    17,    24,    41,    42, 


314,    471;     formerly    Fo 

Garry,  52 
Woolen    duties    and    Britis 

preference,  452 
Wrecking,  reciprocity  in,  46 
Writs,  for  elections,  338,  34: 
Wrong,  Professor,  290;    anc 

the  senate,  294 

Yale,  Caribou,  317 
York,  now  Toronto,  75 
Young,   Sir  John,   governor- 
general,  207  n 
Yukon,  territory  of,  16;    and 
representation  in  house 
commons,  305 


)use  oi 


C540] 


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